.^^^^ V 






% '^'^' 

>:^'% 



^^^" -^^^ 



.-^ 



>^^ 



-0^ 






O 






"•^^ ,^x^' 






.s^-^. 

,^'^' 










V^^ 



^0 o. 






'^,. vXV 






.^:^ -^^^ 









.0 0, 



.x^^ 






■n^ v^ 



.^> ■'ii 






A^" 



^.,<^^ 



v. ,^' 



s^^ ""^ 

.^^ 

^ „■>""* 



x^^ ''ce.. 









-V^ .V 



N. V 9 



n 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/womenofsouthinwaOOandr 




y 3 



O O' 



THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH 
IN WAR TIMES 



COMPILED BY 

MATTHEW PAGE ANDREWS 

If 

Editor: The Dixie Book of Days, 

Echoes from Dixie, or Old-time Soulher7i 

Songs, etc. 



BALTIMORE 
THE NORMAN, REMINGTON CO. 

1920 



.A 56- 



COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY 

THE NORMAN, REMINGTON CO. 



Published under the auspices of the 
United Daughters of the Confederacy 



COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 

Mrs. Roy W. McKinney 

Pres.-Gen. U. D. C. 

Kentucky 

Mrs. Charles R. Hyde 
Tennessee 

Miss Mary B. Poppenhbim 
South Carolina 

Mrs. J. A. Rountree 
Alabama 



DEC -7 1920 

§)CI,A604455 

f 



PREFACE 

A S a contribution to American history, the 
following pages depict the life of the 
Southern people within the lines of the Con- 
federacy during the four years of its storm- 
tossed existence. 

The greater part of the material is given 
in the words of those who were a part of the 
times in which they lived ; but for the benefit 
of others who would now, or in days to come, 
have a clearer understanding of local hap- 
penings, editorial notes are added. These 
notes bear upon related events of larger his- 
torical import, and it should be stated that 
it is now being more and more generally rec- 
ognized that the true history of any land or 
its leaders cannot properly be presented 
without entering into the life of the people 
that make the one and create the other. 

Too much of the experience of any in- 
dividual or any group of individuals is apt 
to weary the reader; similarly, a series of 
disconnected incidents becomes both tiresome 
and confusing. Hence, out of hundreds of 

[V] 



Preface 

incidents of romance, adventure, and devo- 
tion, comparatively few have been chosen. It 
is not pretended that these are any better 
than a great many which are not included, 
but it is believed that the stories selected are 
representative and that they serve to illus- 
trate the history of the women of the South 
during war times. 

The compilation of this material into a 
volume that should be brief, as far as printed 
matter is concerned, yet comprehensive, in so 
far as it may be a reflection of the thought, 
feelings, and achievements of an heroic 
people, is the outcome of a suggestion by a 
distinguished soldier of the Union armies, 
Charles Francis Adams, a liberal-minded 
American of the best type and the lineal 
descendant of two Presidents. Mr. Adams 
stated that all of us need to know the story 
of the Southern people, their true aims and 
purposes, — that no good American would 
condemn the publication of these truths of 
history if presented without malice or ill in- 
tent. On the one hand, it would broaden the 
Northerner by instilling respect for and 
sympathy with the sufferings of the South. 
[vi] 



Preface 

On the other hand, it would help to heal the 
wounds of the South, which much neglect, 
considerable partisan history, with accom- 
panying distortion of motives, have kept 
open far too long. 

North, East, West, or South, we are all 
Americans, and no section can or should as- 
sert it ever had, has, or may expect to have a 
monopoly of the virtues of American citizen- 
ship! It would seem clear, therefore, that 
any American who should object to the pres- 
entation of these simple narratives herein 
disclosed, wittingly or unwittingly, lends him- 
self to keeping alive the harmful spirit of 
sectionalism; or else he is one Avho feels a 
wholly unwarranted distrust of fellow- Amer- 
icans who have shown themselves to be the 
peers of any people in physical prowess, 
mental calibre, and moral worth. The North 
needs the South; the East needs the West, 
and vice versa. Each section should rejoice 
in the special merits of the others. Above 
everything else, however, we all need to un- 
derstand and know each other, in order the 
better to work in harmony with each other 
for the good of a common cause and country, 
[vii] 



CONTENTS 



Page 



I. FOREWOED 3 

Economic and political causes of sectional 
strife — the balance of power — character of the 
Southern people — universality of the doctrines 
of nullification and secession — causes of seces- 
sion — elimination of historical error. 

II. GENIUS OF THE SOUTHERN WOMAN. ... 19 

Necessity the mother of invention — courage 
and cheer in the midst of hardship — salt as 
contraband of wai* — under two flags — com- 
parative war sacrifices. 

III. WARTIME EXPERIENCES OF ELIZABETH 

WARING DUCKETT; INTERVIEWS WITH 

LINCOLN AND ENCOUNTERS WITH 

STANTON 31 

Sentiment in Maryland in 1861 — arrest and 
trial of Mrs. Duckett's father and brother — 
first interview with President Lincoln — en- 
counter with Secretary Stanton — saves her 
brother's life — visit to Northern hospital — 
visit to Fort Delaware — hardships of the pris- 
oners there — a trip Soutli — second visit to 
President Lincoln — the Upper South on seces- 
sion and coercion — cause of firing on Fort 
Sumter — anecdote of Dr. Stuart — treatment of 
prisoners of war — character of Secretary 
Stanton. 



rV. THE PUBLICATION AND SINGING OF ' ' MY 
MARYLAND ' ' 

"My Maryland" adapted to music — sung by 
[ix] 



66 



Contents 



Miss Hettie Gary on the battlefield of Ma- 
nassas. 



Page 



V. EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF JUDITH 

BROCKENBROUGH MO GUIRE 71 

"The Land Where We Were Dreaming" — 
preparations for war — "peaceful secession" — 
fleeing from home — the first clasli in Virginia 
— refugooing in Clarke County — the "elite" 
in the ranks — comparison witli the "spirit of 
'76" — "Tlio Lord have mercy upon their souls! 
Fire!" — an incident of the hospital — picture 
of a Virginia liousehold. 

VI. CARING FOR WOUNDED FOES 105 

Between two fires — prayer of "Uncle Bob" — 
"Medical Grove" threatened and saved — con- 
nection between the past and the present. 

VII. MRS. BETSY SULLIVAN, '' MOTHER OF 

THE FIRST TENNESSEE REGIMENT ". . . 112 

Life in campaign and camp — caring for the 
wounded — voluntary surrender. 

VIII. CAPTURE AND IMPRISONMENT OF MRS. 

WILLIAM KIRBY 116 

Smuggling supplies — military trial and sen- 
tence — hardships and death. 

IX. MRS. BETTY TAYLOR PHILIPS, 

" MOTHER '^ OF THE *' ORPHAN BRI- 

GADE'' 120 

"Tlie Bivouac of the Dead" — at Shiloh and 
Donelson — trial and acquittal as spy — with 
President and Mrs. Davis. 



Contents 

Page 

X. CAPTAIN SALLY TOMPKINS, C.S.A 127 

Equips private hospital — receives rank of Cap- 
tain — "So might Joan of Arc have passed." 

XI. THE PLOEENCE NIGHTINGALE OP THE 

SOUTH 131 

Mrs. Trader consecrates herself to the relief of 
the wounded — lack of funds and medicines — 
Tishomingo hospital — caring for a vpounded 
foe — a trip to Arkansas — hai-dships of the 
journey — home at last. 

XIL A NIGHT ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE . . 145 

Saving the life of a wounded Confederate 
soldier — "Woman's Devotion." 

XIII. THE EIDE OF EOBERTA POLLOCK .... 148 
Pennsylvania ancestry of Miss Pollock — es- 
cape through the lines — capture by a picket — 

the warning carried to Mosby's men. 

XIV. THE DIAEY OP MRS. .TUDITH BROCKEN- 

BROUGH MC GuiRE {continued) 155 

Federal and Confederate prayers "clashing" — 
a heroine in homespun — "Nobody is like my 
mother" — tlie first iron-clad in war — in Lynch- 
burg — anecdote of General Stuart — negroes 
complain of "Yankee" work — in Ashland — 
war prices, 1862 — nursing without medicines — 
homemade soap, gooseberry wine, and hats 
— burning- of the Stuart liouse — death of 
"Stonewall" Jackson — anecdote of General 
Lee — Mrs. Thornton entertains General Sigel 
— experiences at Fredericksburg — a govern- 
ment position in Richmond — black and white 
theology — family servants and honorary titles. 

[xi] 



Contents 

Page 

XV. A LAST SONG IN" A BURNING HOME .... 196 

Hunter's invasion of the Valley of Virginia 
— burning of "Fountain Rock." 

XVI. A woman's EEBUKE AND AN AMER- 
ICAN CLASSIC 200 

Burning of "Bedford" — letter from Mrs. Hen- 
rietta B. Lee to General Hvnitei^. 

XVII. '^GLEN WELBY^' SAVED 205 

Attempt to smoke Mosby out — determination 
of Mrs. Scott — reply of Sophie Carter. 

XVIII. ''gott iss blayed oudt'" 207 

Rescue of family portraits — protest of Mrs. 
Bedinger — an incident of the John Brown 
raid. 

XIX. '^capture'' op a VIRGINIA LADY... 211 
Searching a Virginia home — discovering a 
''ladies' convention" — a pantry saved — gal- 
lantry of a Federal otticer — a Southern wom- 
an's apology — moral courage of Lieutenant 
Page of Pennsyl\ania — testimony as to "Ti'ue 
Story of Andersonville Prison." 

XX. IN THE CAROLINAS 221 

Tiomrod's "Carolina" — correspondence between 
Generals Ha Heck and Sherman — two ways of 
waging war — incidents of the invasion of 
North Carolina — sufferings of the Murchisons 
— courage of Mrs> Monroe. 

XXI. DESPOLIATION AND PROTECTION 230 

Aftermath of the battle of Bentonsville — 
magnanimity of General Cox — camouflage 
against raiders — skill in hiding food and valu- 

[xii] 



Contents 

Pagk 
ables — an unexpectedly strenuous Federal pro- 
tector — executive ability of Mrs. Pearsall. 

XXII. EEMINISCENOES OF MRS. 0. C. POP- 

PETTHEIM 246 

Flight from home — protection for "Liberty 
Hill" — Federal raiders — "oil, feathers, and 
molasses" — sorghum and black bread. 

XXIII. BURNING OP COLUMBIA 257 

Viewpoint of a foreigner — plans for burning 
Columbia — fortitude of the women — negroes 
misled and mistreated — a Federal soldier's 
harangue — a gallant Federal officer — inter- 
view with General Sherman — guarded by Irish 
soldiers. 

XXIV. THE RIDE OF EMMA SANSOM 278 

Arrival of General Forrest — pointing out the 
ford — capture of Streight and his command. 

XXV. CAUGHT BETWEEN CONTENDING 

ARMIES 284 

Nursing friend and foe — Federal re-payment. 

XXVI. NARRATIVE OF AN EARLY GRADUATE 

OF THE FIRST COLLEGE FOR WOMEN . . 286 

Wesleyan College — Mount Vernon and Arling- 
ton — misconceptions of the South — setting 
up the "Stars and Bars" — the Ladies' Gun- 
boat Association — Federal raiders — taking the 
last horse. 

XXVII. IN SHERMAN 's SWATH TO THE SEA 303 
The people of Atlanta driven out into the 
fields — the spirit of Dixie — facing starvation 

— an adventure in the face of fortune — a 

[xiii] 



Conteufs 

Page 
night in a negro cabin — gathering minie balls* 
on the battlefield — causes of desolation — wish- 
ing thomsolves back in slavery — ^refusal of a 
"free gift." 

XXVIII. THB ST. LOUIS PRISON FOE SOtTTH- 

EKN WOMEN 336 

Imprisonment of Louis MoLure — banishment 
from b.ome — entertainment in the South. 

XXIX. ACTION .A.ND REACTION 344 

A brothers" war — "Butler and his kind" — 
bombardment of Baton Rouge — women and 
children under fire. 

XXX. W.AJ? TIMES IN NEW ORLEANS 353 

Lincetln ^"s. the Abolitionists — Robert E. Lee 
on emancipation — a young girl's philosophy — 
chivalry of Colonel Clarke. U. t>. A. — racial 
characteristics — negroes under the new order. 

XXXI. FINAL EXCERPTS FROM THE PIARY 

OF MRS. MOGI'IRE 372 

Ckvupations of the women — an incident of the 
poorer people — i-aids around Richmond — death 
of General Stivart — fate of the negroes — kind- 
ness of Northern otlicers — General Lee's order 
of im"asion — tv nigl\t of terror in lower Vir- 
ginia — a wife's devotion — the hiring of skillets 
— stiirvation rations for the soldiers — its rela- 
tion to the prison problem — surrender of Rich- 
mond — "The old order changeth. yielding place 
to new." 

XXXII. REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF THE 

LONE STAR STATE 413 

The attitude of Texas — sending siipplies to 
distant armies — ^the life and work of Mrs, 



[xiv] 



Contents 

Pace 
Lucretia Hadley — recollections of Mrs. Cor- 
nelia Branch Stone — the foot and horse ma- 
rines of Texas — the defense of Sabine Pass — 
sewing by hand. 

XXXIII. MES. ALGERNON SYDNEY SULLI- 
VAN AND HER WAR EXPERIENCES IN 
NEW YORK CITY 428 

Trial of the '"pirates" — caring for Confederate 
prisoners — visit to John Yates Beall — the 
draft riots — Mrs. Sullivan visits Virginia — 
rescue of tlie wheat crop — relief work. 

XXXIV. RELIEF WORK IN THE WORLD WAR 449 
A comparison — early action of the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy at Chattanooga 

— endowment of hospital beds in France — 
letters from Mrs. Robert Bacon and Mr. Rich- 
ard E. Power — general relief work — sale of 
Liberty Bonds — establishment of "Our Hero 
Fund." 

Index 459 



[XV] 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

First White House of the Confederacy 

Frontispiece 

Facing 
Page 

The White House at Richmond 65 

Robert Edward Lee 128 

Sarah Dabney Eggleston 320 



[xvii] 



Man is so constituted — the immutable laws 
of our being are such — that to stifle the 
sentiment and extinguish the hallowed memo- 
ries of a people is to destroy their man- 
hood. — John B. Gordon. 

We had, I was satisfied, sacred principles 
to maintain and rights to defend for which 
we were in duty bound to do our best, even 
if we perished in the endeavor. 

— Robert E. Lee. 

We must forevermore consecrate in our 
hearts our old battle flag of the Southern 
Cross — not now as a political symbol, but as 
the consecrated emblem of an heroic epoch. 
The people that forgets its heroic dead is 
already dying at the heart, and we believe 
we shall be truer and better citizens of the 
United States if we are true to our past. 
: — Randolph H. McKim. 



THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH 
IN WAR TIMES 



FOREWORD 

COUTHERN women have, in their own land, 
suffered from a well-intended but some- 
what doubt-provoking abundance of per- 
fervid eloquence heaped upon them by a cer- 
tain type of orator much given to flowery 
speech! Nevertheless, it may truly be said 
of the Southern women of 1861-1865 that the 
simple narrative of their life and work un- 
folds a record of achievement, endurance, 
and self-sacrificing devotion that should be 
revealed and recognized as a splendid in- 
spiration to men and women everywhere. 

Popular opinion as to the life and sacrifices 
of these American women has been more or 
less prejudiced, however, by reason of a wide- 
spread misunderstanding of 

A Popular ^^le issues involved in the sec- 

Misapprehen- ,. i n- j • i 

gjQjj tional conflict, a misapprehen- 

sion which must be removed if 
we are to appreciate the true worth and ser- 
vice of these women. All too frequently the 
Southern people of the ''old regime" have 
[31 



The Women of the South in War Times 

been pictured as engaged primarily in a pro- 
tracted struggle for the maintainance of 
negro slavery, on account of which their lead- 
ers provoked a bloody war I AVhereas, even a 
cursory review of the correspondence of 
Southern men and women prior to the out- 
break of the AVar of Secession makes it quite 
evident that the idea of lighting on behalf of 
slavery was as far from the minds of these 
Americans as going to war in order to free 
the slaves was from the purpose of Abraham 
Lincoln, whose solo object, frequently ex- 
pressed by him, was to ** preserve the Union," 
*an objective sufficiently worthy without cor- 
relating with it the somewhat Pharasaical 
error that the war was waged as a moral cru- 
sade for the liberation of the slave. Indeed, 
Lincoln emphatically declared that, as Pres- 
ident, he was contending for the preservation 
of the Union 'Svith or without slavery" and 
that, if desirable or necessary, he favored ab- 
solute guarantees for the perpetuation of the 
institution, precisely as provided for in a 
proposed Amendment to the Constitution 
passed by Congress in 1861, reference to 
which is made below. 

[4] 



Foreword 

In this connection it is interesting ^.o recall 
the little-known fact that the first emancipa- 
tion proclamation issued in America was pro- 
mulgated in 1775 by Lord 

The First Dunmore, the Royal Governor 

American Proc- ^ -tt- • • mr, • ^ x* 

lamation of Virgmia. This proclamation 

Emancipation placed Patrick Henry, John 
Marshall, and George Wash- 
ington in the apparent position of fighting 
for slavery; since, had the British won, the 
slaves would have been freed. In that event, 
it is conceivable that it might have been sub- 
sequently represented, in British history, 
that the abolition of slavery, an incidental 
outcome of a war waged on other grounds, 
was the principal matter of contention be- 
tween the Colonies and the Mother Country I 
In our histories of the sectional conflict, it 
is but rarely mentioned that a considerable 
number of Northern emancipationists went 
to live in the South and that they worked in 
complete sympathy with their fellow-eman- 
cipationists in that section. When the war 
broke out, these Northern emancipationists 
battled as whole-heartedly on behalf of the 
Confederacy as Lincohi and Farragut and 
[5] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Thomas, with thousands of other Southern- 
born men, labored or fought on the other side 
^'to preserve the r^nioi." 

Faithful history must lay proper emphasis 
upon a long sectional struggle for political 
power, having its origin in opposing economic 
policies, — a struggle between 
The True Cause an agricultural people in the 
of the Sectional ^(^^^^^ seeking free trade with 

Conflict — the ,, , , , . , 

Balance of ^^^^ world, and a conunercial 

Political Power and manufacturing people in 
the North who sought, and ob- 
tained, high protective tariffs, under which 
the North was able to buy cheaply the raw 
material of the South, while the South was 
compelled to pay high prices for the manu- 
factured articles produced in the North. This 
acfiialli/ imposed upon the South a burden of 
taxation far in excess of any even proposed 
by the British government for the colonies 
prior to the American Revolution. 

On the other hand, the tremendous political 
and economic issues at stake were obscured 
by the problem of domestic slavery; for the 
presence or the absence of slave labor helped 
to maintain differences of political and eco- 
[61 



Foreword 

nomic interests. These differences resulted 
in a continuous struggle to preserve the ' ' bal- 
ance of power," — in the Senate, at least, — 
through the simultaneous admission from 
North and South of new States into the 
Union.* 

It was with keen foresight that Thomas 
Jefferson, the greatest of the early eman- 
cipationists, predicted that the ''moral issue" 
of slavery would be put to good 
Prediction ^gg j^y partisans in order to 

of Thomas . ^ . t ,-1 

Jefferson mname party and sectional 

passions and thereby secure 
political and personal returns for them- 
selves. The question of slavery did confuse 
contemporary politics as Jefferson predicted 
it would; and, ever since, it has, in even 
greater measure, distorted the sense of per- 
spective and proportion in the interpreta- 
tion of American history.f 



*Careful historians seek to avoid the once prevalent use 
of the terms "free" and "slave" States. Not only is the 
terminology subject to criticism on grammatical grounds, 
but it helps to convey a wholly false impression relative 
to the political and economic differences which resulted in 
constant friction and final conflict. 

fFrom 1830 to the close of the war, a number of books 
published in the North by Northerners fairly and fully 

[7] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Under the emancipation proclamation of 
1775, as under that of 1863, the women of the 
threatened section, in the absence of their 
natural protectors, faced the terrifying pos- 
sibilities of a servile insurrection. Both 
proclamations Avere professedly "war meas- 
ures," issued, in the first instance, several 
weeks, and, in the other, nearly two years 
after a state of war had begun. Had either 
proclamation aroused the slaves in the rear 
of the *' rebel" forces, the result must have 
put an inmiediate end to armed resistance.* 

That there was no rising of the slaves in 
either case, or the desire to rise in revolt, is 



liisciissod those problems. Two of the most interesting and 
instnictive of thoso volumes are: "The Origin of the Late 
\Yar," by Ooorge Liint, of Boston: and "Southern Wealth 
and Nortliovn Protits," by T. V. Kettel, of New York. In 
a personal letter, vuuler date of November 2o. 1913, the 
distinguisheil scientist. Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, from the 
point of view of the latter day European observer, makes 
the statement: "1 wish to add tliat I consider the Civil 
War as an eeonomie war. just as most wars, and as the 
result of the protective taritl", which was a necessity at that 
time, for the North, and thus unavoidable.'" The famous 
Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, noted this clash of in- 
terests in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, as 
did the English writer. James Speuce, some years later. 

*In the Declaration of Independence, one of the com- 
plaints made against Gtnn-gv 111 reads: 'He has excited 
domestic iusumvtions against us." 

[S] 



Foreword 

in itself a refutation of the pre-war accusa- 
tions of barbarity heaped upon the Southern 

people by thousands of intcm- 
Character of perate spoakors and writers. 
People That, in the midst of war, there 

were almost no instances of 
arson, murder, or outrage connuittod by the 
negroes of the South is an everlasting tribute 
to the splendid character of the dominant race 
and their moral uplift of a weaker one. This 
is the negative side. On the positive side, 
faithful history records the almost universal 
respect and general affection manifested by 
the tutored race for their tutors. It should 
be remembered that these African negroes 
had been brought to America wholly, or 
almost wholly, by shippers of European or 
of Northern origin, against the frrotests of 
all the Southern colonies and States at one 
time or another. It should be remembered 
further that when these negroes were landed 
on American shores, almost all were savages 
taken from the lowest forms of jungle life. It 
was largely the women of the South who 
trained these heathen people, moulded their 
characters, and, in the second and third gen- 
[9] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

erations, lifted them up a thousand years in 
the scale of civilization.* 

It is apparent that in war, and especially a 

war of invasion, woman's part is the harder 

portion. What man physically endures in 

the shock of battle is endured 

Woman's Part j^^.^^^^, f^j^;^ -^^ ^j^^ ^^^-^^^g .^^^^^^ 
in Wsr * 

thoughts of the women left at 
home. The compensatory exhilaration of con- 
flict is not vouchsafed to woman. In the 
wounds and death of loved ones, she suffers 
agonies that the soldier knows but indirectly. 



•Bocauso of their intomporato and incessant denuncia- 
tions, the extreme Abolitionists not unnaturally aroused 
a spirit of bitter resentment in the South, out of Avhich 
"tire-eaters" in that section, like their 
., , counterparts in the North, made po- 

Abraham litical capital. Thus were the promis- 

l^mcoln vs. jjj„ etiorts of the Southern emancipa- 

Au ,-3°*'^-^: tionists hindered and held Tip. George 

Abolitionists ^y p^^^.^,^. ^.,^. yi,^.i„i,,, expressed the 

more moderate view of Soiithern re- 
sentment of this incessant abuse Avhcn he said, in etiVct : 
"This cutY button upon my sleeve is valueless ; I would give 
it to yo\i for the asking; but if you attempt to take it 
away from me by force, and spit in my face besides, why, I 
will defend this cuti" button with my life!" In the North. 
Bisliop Hopkins, of Vermont, wrote with great truth, and 
not without a sense of humor. . . . '"Tlien the eloquent 
preacher chooses it [slavery] for the favorite topic of his 
oratory. The theme is well adapted to rouse the feelings, 
and it is usually by no means ditficult to interest and 
gratify the audience when the supposed sins of others, which 

[10] 



Foreword 

The soldiers of the Confederacy were half- 
fed and half -clothed ; and they suffered long- 
contmued privations that were not equaled 
by Washington's men at Valley Forge. Yet, 
though even the great commander of the 
Army of Northern Virginia was compelled, 
on some occasions, to "borrow" corn from 
his horse, many of the women of Georgia and 
the Carolinas supported life on the scattered 
grains which they were able to sweep up from 
the abandoned feeding places left in the deso- 



they are under no temptation to commit, are made the 
object of censure." 

Abraham Lincoln more forcefully represented the irre- 
parable harm done by the ultra-AlDolitionist to the cause 
of emancipation, when, in a eulogy of Henry Clay, July 16, 
1852, he passionatelj^ declared: "Tliose wlao would shiver 
into fragments the Union of these States, tear to tatters 
its now venerated Constitution, and even burn the last copy 
of the Bible, rather than slavery should continue a single 
hour, together with all their more halting sympathizers, 
have received, and are receiving their just execration." On 
account of these views, Lincoln was denounced by these 
ultra-Abolitionist leaders as ''the slave-hound of Illinois." 

Many of the extreme Abolitionists were the most enthu- 
siastic disunionists. For example, F. B. Sanborn, in writ- 
ing to his associate and friend, Thomas Wentworth Higgin- 
son, wrote approvingly of John Brown: "I believe that he 
is the best Disimion champion you can find, and with his 
hundred men, when he is put where he can raise them and 
drill them, (for he has an expert drill officer with him) 
he will do more to split the Union than a list of 50,000 
names for your convention, good as that is." 

[11] 



^_, 



The Women of the Sotith in War Times 

late track of Sherman's cavalry. Unless these 
things be known, the world cannot possibly 
understand the ardor of devotion and con- 
tinued self-sacrifice b}'" and through which 
Southern women have sought to memorialize 
an era of political thought together; with a 
social order, which was an inheritance of 
colonial days, but which had, it is said, *' ling- 
ered overlong upon the advent of an all-en- 
veloping, ever-changing era of modern eco- 
nomic progress." During that elder era. 
Southern men had led in providing for the 
territorial expansion of the Federal Republic 
their fathers had so abundantly helped to 
create. Then, by an imexpected turn of 
events, and by reason of the amazingly rapid 
processes of evolution from which the South- 
ern people Avere held back by the very strac- 
ture of their social order, they were ulti- 
mately crushed by the government that was 
so largely of their o\vii creation ! 

In regard, however, to the principles once 
involved in nullification and secession, the 
women of the South have always repudiated, 
as wholly unjust, the teachuig in a number of 
textbooks and histories that the logic of the 
[12] 



Foreword 

ante-bellum South was ''absurd" or ''ridicu- 
lous," unless the previously expressed and 

entirely similar views of rep- 
The Universality lesentative people of the North 
°of NulUfi^tn be set forth as equally "ab- 
and Secession surd" or "ridiculous." The 

"whole truth" reveals the fact 
that a number of the Founders of the Repub- 
lic enunciated the doctrine of "State inter- 
position" or nullification, at least in effect, 
and that, prior to the war which also settled 
the issue of secession, all the Northern 
States practiced nullification with a degree of 
success most astonishing to those who have 
learned only the half tiiiths of history.* 

Again, if the South attempted secession, 
the North first announced and most contin- 
uously proclaimed the "alleged right" of 
secession. That ivas when it seemed to New 
England statesmen that their section ivas in 
political jeopardy on account of the expan- 



*The legislatures of a number of the Northern Statea 
openly proclaimed the nullification of at least part of 
Article IV of the Constitution of the United States. In- 
stances of practical nullification on various issues may 
readily be cited, even during the administration of Andrew 
Jackson, notably in the action of Georgia, Maine, and 
Massachusetts. 

[13] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

sion of the South and West under Southern 
leadership. Had the North put its threats 
into actual execution when it believed its 
political power was imperilled, the Northern 
people would have actively asserted the prin- 
ciple of secession as a ' * State right. ' ' South- 
ern men, who were then in control of the Fed- 
eral Government, might have used Federal 
power to force ^' rebel" Northern States 
back in the Union. Who knows? Charles 
Francis Adams, aware of this phase of Amer- 
ican history from the opinions of Presidents 
John Adams and John Quincy Adams, ex- 
pressed the idea that, in the War of Seces- 
sion, "hoth sides tvere right," meaning that 
both sides had right in their contentions, the 
South chiefly through historical precedent or 
a common heritage, and the North principally 
through the processes of evolution.* 



*In the 1864 edition of Webster's Dictionary, prepared 
in New England as the great sectional conflict was being 
waged on the basis of differing interpretations of political 
doctrine, it is extremely interesting to note that, in contrast 
with all previous editions of the same dictionary (1828, 
1840, 1847, 1859), the definitions of constitutional terms 
which relate to the earlier interpretation of the powers of 
the "Federal compact" were reversed. It is further inter- 
esting to note that no warning was given of these particular 
changes in definition, although the editors of the 1864 «di- 

[14] 



Foreword 

Baldly to say or teach, therefore, that 
"slavery was the cause of the Civil War," 
with its assumption of superior Trior al status 
on the one side and obstinate 
True Causes of turpitude on the other, in- 
the Secession t . /> -t . 

Movement dicates a failure to grasp 

fundamental facts of American 
history. It is a singular misrepresentation 
to make it appear that emancipation, an in- 
cidental outcome of the armed conflict, was 
the principal point in contention either dur- 
ing the war or in the decades before it. Un- 
der Lincoln, the Federal Government was 
ready to receive the Southern States back 
into the Union ''with or without slavery," 
as they themselves should determine, and the 



tion had stated that in cases of changes of definition, the 
obsolete or obsolescent definitions were also given in con- 
nection with these changes. Elsewhere this purpose was 
carried out, but it was not done in connection with the 
definitions of those terms pertaining to the nature of the 
Federal Union. The older interpretations, had they been 
given in the edition of 1864 would have tended to sustain 
the position taken by the South, then alleged to be "en- 
gaged in rebellion." It may fairly be presumed that the 
editors thought it best to leave the former definitions out. 
To an intelligent and independent people, it must seem, 
however, that in matters of history, it is a mistaken kind 
of patriotism which deviates from the presentation of the 
whole truth. 

[15] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

newly-arisen Republican party had sought, 
in 1861, to allay distrust of what was then 
a wholly sectional organization, by guaran- 
teeing the perpetuity of the institution of 
slavery through a Constitutional Amend- 
ment which passed both houses of Congress 
by large majorities and which was ratified 
by Ohio and Maryland before hostilities be- 
gan. If, therefore, the New England States 
had in previous times felt imperilled over the 
political control of the old '' Democratic-Re- 
publican" party, Avhich was widely repre- 
sented in the North, how much more had the 
South, — particularly the far South — to fear 
for its economic and political interests when, 
in 1860, the Federal Government fell into the 
hands of an apparently hostile party which 
had practically no representation in the ' ' Cot- 
ton States"? South Carolina had felt her- 
self aggrieved to the point of imllification and 
possible secession over the inequitable tariifs 
or taxes of 1824-1830. A compromise staved 
off the conflict, but the economic and political 
grievances persisted. At last, in 1861, the 
States of the Loiver South were persuaded 
to tnist to the power of the cotton boll to 
create a separate government imder a Con- 
[16] 



Foreword 

stitution, which, except for its anti-tariff pro- 
visions, was essentially the same as that 
adopted by the original thirteen States in 
1789. Subsequently, it was on the issue of 
*' coercion," directed, as it was thought, 
against the fundamental American principle 
of "the consent of the governed," that the 
people of , the Upper South cast their lot with 
the Confederacy. Like their chosen leader, 
Robert E. Lee, they had nothing to gain and 
everything to lose in making such a choice, 
and the majority of their Northern-born 
brothers then in the South followed the State 
of their adoption. 

The greater part of the history of the 

United States, as written in the second decade 

of the twentieth century, is far freer 

from sectional misunderstand- 

EUmin™ ^* ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^* written in the 
last half of the nineteenth. 
Errors due to ignorance or to prejudice must 
and will be eliminated ; and when all the prin- 
ciples involved in the War of Secession are 
faithfully presented in their due proportion 
and perspective, Americans of either section 
may rejoice equally in the fulfillment of the 
prophecy of the Southern poet, who, in the 
[171 



The Women of the South in War Times 
days of deepest misunderstanding, wrote : 

"In the future some historian shall come forth both strong 

and wise, 
With a love of the Republic, and the truth, before hi3 eyes. 
He will show the subtle causes of the war between the 

States, 
He will go back in his studies far beyond our modern dates, 
He will trace out hostile ideas as the miner does the lodes. 
He will show the different habits born of different social 

codes, 
He will show the Union riven, and the picture will deplore. 
He will show it reunited and made stronger than before. 
Slow and patient, fair and truthful, must the coming 

teacher be 
To show how the knife was sharpened that was ground to 

prune the tree. 
He will hold the Scales of Justice, he will measure praise 

and blame. 
And the South will stand the verdict, and will stand it 

without shame." 

In the same '^Wreath of Virginia Bay 
Leaves" is also found this appeal, as the 
closing words of the Yorkto^vn Centennial 
Poem recited in 1881 by its author, Captain 
James Barron Hope, a Confederate veteran: 

"Give us back the ties of Yorktown! 

Perish all the modern hates! 

Let us stand together, brothers. 

In defiance of the Fates; 
For the safety of the Union 
Is the safety of the States!" 
[18] 



n 

GENIUS OF THE SOUTHERN WOMAN 

ll/rANY are the war-time diaries and per- 
sonal letters that tell of the ingenuity of 
the Southern people in devising substitutes 
for three-fourths of the articles commonly in 
use prior to the war. They devised substi- 
tutes not only for almost every kind of manu- 
factured article, but for accustomed foods, 
drinks, and medicines. It often happened 
that so common and essential an article as 
salt could not be obtained. 

No people of modern times were so ill-pre- 
pared for war. The Southern Confederacy 

began its existence without 
• D bT ^^^ navy whatsoever, and 

without vessels for purposes 
of trade. With a few exceptions, such as 
David Gr. Farragut, Southern-born naval of- 
ficers in the Federal service turned over their 
commissions to the Government against 
which they were soon to be arrayed in war. 
They then went south to await whatever 
should take place. The issue of battle was 
[19] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

by no means assured; for Horace Greeley 
was one of many thousands in the North who 
in one way or another expressed the thought, 
based on the writings and sayings of the 
founders of the Republic, that the Southern 
States had a right to withdraAV from the 
Union and that they should be permitted to 
depart in peace as they sought to do. 

Except for a small number of cotton mills, 
there icere almost no factories in the South. 
The Southern States depended upon the 
North for household furnishings and agri- 
cultural implements, and even for articles so 
common as ordinary nails. The *' Lower 
South," given almost wholly to the service 
of *'Kmg Cotton," was dependent upon the 
great northwest for staple foodstuffs. At the 
very beginning, therefore, of a four years' 
conflict, the Southern people were face to face 
with food scarcity and economic ruin. As the 
war went on, some manufacturing was devel- 
oped, but all of it had to be done with the 
crudest kind of machinery, improvised, or not 
infrequently '' invented," for the purposes 
required. 

The women of the South and other non- 
[20] 



Genius of the Southern Woman 

combatants had to provide, as best they 

could, for themselves; and it must also 

be remembered that nowhere 

Necessity the ^j^g^ ^^g woman's '^ sphere'* 

Invention widened beyond the domestic 

field. Notwithstanding these 
facts, the Southern women, suddenly and 
violently plunged into the midst of an eco- 
nomic cataclysm, rose equal to the occasion, 
and showed that they were even more ingeni- 
ous than the men ; for they were called upon 
to establish new processes and to provide sub- 
stitutes for a much greater variety of things. 
Their adaptations and discoveries were not 
so spectacular ; for these did not involve the 
destruction of hostile forces, but they were 
equally important in that they sustained and 
conserved life at home and enabled the Con- 
federate forces to keep the field. 

A number of things took the places of cof- 
fee, tea, and sugar. There could be no sub- 
stitute for salt, so sea water had to be boiled, 
or the floors of the smoke houses removed 
and the dirt beneath dug up and washed in 
order to procure even so limited a supply of 
this human necessity. For ordinary common 
[21] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

cooking soda, the Southern woman learned 
to substitute the ashes of com cobs. The 
ashes were put into a jar, covered with water, 
and allowed to stand until clear. In making 
various breads and cakes, one part of ashes 
was mixed with two of sour milk. 

*' Coffee" was made in several ways; by 
boiling parched wheat and rye, and some- 
times corn. In some localities, sweet potatoes 
were cut into small squares, dried in the sun, 
and afterwards parched, ground up, and 
boiled. By way of variety, the seed of the 
okra was also used. As sugar became scarce 
or non-existent, the beverages thus made 
were sweetened with sorghum. ^'Tea" was 
manufactured from any leaf which seemed to 
provide a distinctive flavor. For example, it 
was made from the dried leaves of the black- 
berry and the sassafras. In the lower South, 
other leaves Avere used, such as those of the 
cassena or yaupon plant. It is said that ' ' the 
care with which these substitutes for tea were 
prepared made a decided difference in the 
flavor, which was not a particularly happy 
one at best!" 

In those parts of the South overrun by 
[22] 



Genius of the Southern Woman 

hostile forces, milk was scarcely to be had. 
This was especially the case in Virginia. In 
Kichmond it was quoted at $4.00 a quart. In 
their diaries and in their letters to friends, 
many women declared that they had had no 
milk for months. This lack was especially 
hard on children and the sick and wounded. 
Moreover, the dearth of ice must have worked 
untold hardships, yet this lack was men- 
tioned almost exclusively in connection with 
hospital work in the upper South. 

Ingenious as the women were in planning 
substitutes for accustomed foods, they ex- 
celled themselves in the matter of providing 
clothes and household necessities. The ap- 
parently simple matter of lighting was, dur- 
ing the war, a serious problem. There were 
no oils to be had for the various lamps then 
in use. The supply of ' ' store ' ' candles gave 
out, so lard and greases were saved in pans, 
and woolen rags were used as wicks. In some 
parts of the South, myrtle berries were gath- 
ered by the wagon-load. These were "boiled 
and refined," and from them was made a 
translucent, green, and aromatic wax, "fit," 
as one lady described it, ' ' for the candelabra 
[23] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

of a king. ' ' Very many homes had to be con- 
tent, however, with pine ^'lightwood'' knots 
and the grease tapers. These were even sent 
off to the soldiers to ** light the evening hour 
while they wrote to sister, sweetheart, or 
mother. ' ' 

The manufacture of soap appeared to of- 
fer the greatest scope for the imagination 
and resourcefulness of the housewife. Many 

were the recipes independently 
CheerSTn ^"*^ ^^o^^ed out for the homemade 
Direst Need article. On the other hand, 

when cooking implements gave 
out, there was the direst distress. Suffice it 
to mention the fact that metal pots and pans 
were much handed about in a community 
wherever distances did not make borrowing 
an impossibility! One Southern heroine 
hired an only sMllet from a colored woman 
at one dollar a month rental. That she 
laughed over the incident helped to make the 
circumstances more cheer fid ; but, none the 
less, it represented suffering and real dis- 
tress. Other cooking utensils were often 
*' hired" on the same plan. In households 
where there were many refugees from the 
[24] 



Genius of the Southern Woman 

homes and farms laid waste, the hardships 
iu matters of this kind increased greatly 
throughout the duration of the war ; yet these 
women cheerfully sacrificed their carpets, 
curtains, and household things for use in 
camp and hospital. 

In all history no people were universally 
Tnore unselfish, and no government was so 
free from '' profiteering" and corruption. 
The Confederate Government 
Public Honesty jj^^j Ji^ve been inefficient in 
and Private i- i i ^ -j. i? 

Generosity some particulars, but its oi- 

ficials did not take private ad- 
vantage of public position. Whatever naay 
have been the weaknesses of Southern men 
in public life prior to the war, they had ever 
maintained a singularly high standard in 
their official relations. They had before them 
the sterling examples of Washington, Madi- 
son, Mason, Jefferson, Marshall, Monroe, 
Tyler, the Pinckneys, Laurens, and a thou- 
sand other such leaders of lesser fame but 
equal honesty. Subsequently to the outbreak 
of the War, outspoken partisans of the North 
lamented the loss of the powerful influence 
of the example and practice of these men of 
[25] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

scrupulous honesty in public affairs. There- 
fore, with Davis, Stephens, Lee, Jackson, 
Stuart, Forrest, and the two Johnstons as the 
successors of the founders and builders of the 
first Union, the women of the South were 
more than willing to suffer everything 
humanly possible for a cause upheld by . . . 
worthy of the confidence of their people. 

Supplies of clothing of all kinds rapidly 
diminished as the war continued. Neatly 
trimmed thorns were often used in place of 
pins, and it was discovered that persimmon 
seeds made excellent buttons when thoroughly 
dried and pierced with the necessary holes 
for needle and thread, which, in their turn, 
became alarmingly scarce, so that the loss of 
a sewing needle became a household cala/mity. 
Buttons were also made out of gourds, cut 
into moulds and covered with cloth of any 
color or kind. Corn shucks, palmetto, and 
many kinds of grasses were woven into hats 
and bonnets. Every variety of dye was home- 
made. When the dyes failed to hold their 
respective colors, the articles were *' re- 
dipped" again and again. When hat trim- 
[26] 



Genius of the Southern Woman 

mings were worn *'too long a time," the hats 
were reshaped and dyed another color. 

All girls and women learned to card and ,/^ 
spin and knit, if not previously acquainted 
with these arts. Every woven stocking was 
of especial value. "When the feet were en- 
tirely worn out, the upper part was carefully 
unraveled and the thread first twisted on the 
spinning wheel and then knitted into new 
stockings or into gloves or mitts. All woven 
wearing apparel was treated in the same way. 
Leather became very scarce and the provid- 
ing of shoes a big problem. Women learned, 
in time, to make their own uppers and all of 
their bed-room and house slippers. Soles for 
outdoor use proved to be the greatest diflS- 
culty. Sometimes they were made of wood, 
— and, again — well, there were times when 
there were no shoes available!* 



•The so-called "decisive battle" of the war was brought 
on unexpectedly when barefooted Confederate soldiers 
learned that shoes might be had in Gettysburg. The search 
for shoes discovered Federal outposts, and the battle be- 
gan there instead of at Cashtown, as the Confederate com- 
mander had planned. It may also be noted here that the 
gallant General "Pat" Cleburn "ordered" an unshod soldier 
to put on his own boots, while he, in his stocking feet, 
-rode into the fight in which he lost his life. 

[27] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

The foregoing brief review may serve to 
illustrate what the women of the South did 
in the face of economic difficulties and even 
destitution. The homespun dress of the 
Southern girl became famous, giving expres- 
sion to the popular war verses which were 
sung to the tune of * ' The Bonnie Blue Flag' ' : 

Oh yes, I am a Southern girl, and glory in the name; 

And boast it with far greater pride than glittering wealth 

or fame. 
I envy not the Northern girl, her robes of beauty rare, 
Tho' diamonds grace her snowy neck, and pearls bedeck 

her hair. 

Hurrah ! Hurrah ! for the Sunny South so dear ! 
Three cheers for the home-spun dress that Southern ladies 
wear! 

NOTES AND SIDELIGHTS 
Federal forces had orders to destroy salt and salt works 
wherever found, for the Federal Government had declared 
salt "contraband of war." These orders have been, at 
times, attributed to President Lincoln, 
Salt as Contra- but there is no certain evidence to show 
band of War that he was even aware of their exis- 
tence. On the other hand, such orders 
were entirely in keeping with the character of Secretary 
of War Stanton, who was offered the most important port- 
folio in the President's Cabinet because of his energy and 
recognized executive abilities. Curiously enough, this vin- 
dictive official was of Quaker ancestry, of North Carolina 
stock, and a Democrat whose mother came from Virginia. 

[28] 



Genius of the Southern Woman 

Had war been certain from the first exercise of State 
secession by South Carolina, possibly some of the vessels 
of the Federal Navy would have found their way to South- 
ern ports; but when their Southern- 
Under Two born ofiicers resigned they were not 

Flags rated as "rebels." Ships plying between 

Charleston and New York flew the Stars 
and Stripes by the side of the new emblem of the Confed- 
erate States. United States Army ofiicers, also, with some 
notable exceptions, such as Winfield Scott and Geoi'ge H. 
Thomas, resigned and carried into the service of the Con- 
federacy nothing but their personal effects. A few small 
arsenals on Southern soil held some arms and ammunition. 
Only one of these was seized, and such scant military 
supplies furnished the entire basis for the defensive equip- 
ment of a "new nation" about to engage in modern war- 
fare. In short, there was neither army nor navy, almost 
no ammunition, and no manufactories to make war sup- 
plies or articles of any kind or for any purpose. 

It should be said in this connection that "history" 
wholly false to the facts is sometimes compiled from real 
or pseudo Southern sources. A good example is offered in 
the writings of Henry Watterson, hailed in 1919 as the lead- 
ing figure in American journalism on account of his long 
experience and his ability as a "paragrapher." The former 
editor stated in an interview, September, 1917, that, "The 
South was far better prepared for war than the North" T 
Mr. Watterson based this amazing statement on the asser- 
tion that the South was "peopled by a fighting race 
inured to the idea of war"! a statement that reflects 
unhappily on the North at the same time that it misrepre- 
sents the South. In his reminiscences, Mr. Watterson haa 
stated that he went into the war feeling that he was doing 
a "treasonable" thing, — the only Confederate who seems 

[29] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to have felt that way. He, therefore, entered the war 
wrongly; and it would seem that he labored in it lightly, 
and suffered hardly at all. He abandoned the cause at 
an early opportunity and afterwards made an essentially 
false comparison, offensive to all good Americans, between 
alleged Southern arrogance on the one hand and the intoler- 
able insolence of Prussian autocracy on the other. 

In March, 1918, the New York World, in an editorial 

article on the World War of the twentieth century, took 

occasion to state: "It will do the country no harm to 

note the reminder of Senator Williams 

Comparative ^yf Mississippi that its war sufferings in 

„ .» the matter of food have reached no very 

Sacrifices 

heroic stage as yet. 

Senator Williams was then quoted as saying: "Men go 
out and exploit themselves about wheatless days and the 
lack of food. The Southern Confederacy had no wheat for 
three years during the Civil War. I went from 1862 to 
Lee's surrender without seeing anything made out of wheat 
except an occasional Christmas or birthday cake, and that 
was sweetened with molasses. What is the use of talking 
about hardships? We are having no hardships in this 
country. 

"If you cannot stand hardships, then you are not worthy 
of your ancestors. Let us send men, munitions, and food 
to France and quit our patrioteering camouflage!" 



[30] 



Ill 

THE WAR TIME EXPERIENCES OF 
ELIZABETH WARING DUCKETT 

INTERVIEWS V/ITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN AND 
ENCOUNTERS WITH SECRETARY STANTON 

TN 1861, the eastern half of Maryland was 
as strongly Southern in its sympathies as 
any part of Virginia. Up to April 15th, the 
people, like their Virginia neighbors, were 
opposed to secession and were hoping for a 
peaceful reunion w^ith the secessionist States 
of the Lower South. Also like the Virginians, 
they were opposed to any invasion of the 
South for the purpose of forcing the seceding 
States back into the Union against the will 
of their people. It was seriously proposed 
by John P. Kennedy and other prominent 
Marylanders, that, since the Federal Union 
was "already broken," Maryland and the 
other middle States should form a separate 
union to act as a mediator between the far 
North and the far South, and thereby event- 
ually to restore all to a common whole. 
The newly-arisen Republican party, which, 
[31] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

it must be remembered, bad practically no 
representation in the States then withdrawn 
from the Union, had sponsored an Amend- 
ment to the Constitution guaranteeing the 
perpetuation of negro slavery wherever it 
then existed. This was brought forward in 
an endeavor to save the Union; but the Re- 
publicans responsible for this movement had 
mistaken the real issue at stake; and their 
political opponents, in Maryland and else- 
where, were not interested in the movement. 
On the other hand, there was an element in 
the Republican party working powerfully be- 
neath the surface, and with ultimate success, 
to cause the '' Cotton State secessionists" to 
commit an open act of aggression and thus 
force a fight. This element was represented 
by Senator Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, 
who expressed the opinion in a letter to Gov- 
ernor Blair, February 11, 1861, that ''With- 
out a little blood-letting this Union ivill 7iot, 
in my estimation, he ■worth a rush." 

As peace-makers, however, Maryland could 
not cope with the pace-makers of the impend- 
ing war. On the one hand. South Carolina 
was impatient over the delay in turning over 
[32] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

to her the property she demanded in Fort 
Sumter which had been promised to her 
through special commissioners ; on the other, 
an element in the North, as above stated, was 
advocating and, under the surface, working 
for war, while the extreme Abolitionists con- 
tinued to inflame sectional prejudices and 
loudly expressed their joy over the prospect 
of relief from further union with a people 
whom they had persuaded themselves and 
others to abominate as '^ altogether wicked" 
and as the '^ upholders of the sum of all 
villainies. ' ' 

Early in April, therefore, the leading citi- 
zens of Maryland were opposed to secession ; 
but when the call for troops to coerce the 

South was sent out, these same 
foTcIIdoniS people could not bring them- 

selves to invade the South. On 
that issue alone they passed "over-night" 
from Unionists to Secessionists. Thereafter, 
it was almost impossible to find a single 
descendant of the famous "Maryland Line" 
of Revolutionary patriots who was not ready, 
on that issue, to take up arms for the South- 
ern cause; and, if need be, to lay down his 
[32] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

life for it. Those who were not immediately 
arrested by special orders from Washington 
left their homes and families, not for the sake 
of gain, but for what they believed to be 
right; and it has been estimated that over 
twenty thousand Marylanders thus "expat- 
riated" themselves, crossed the Potomac, and 
joined the armies of the Confederacy. 

The people of the counties in southeastern 
Maryland were almost unanimous in their 
sympathy with the Confederacy. Of this 
number were the Warings, who 
MaT^land^"^" had owned prosperous farms 
on the banks of the Patuxent 
since the time of their original grant from 
the Lords Baltimore. Elizabeth Waring was 
the second of a family of eleven children. In 
1856, she married Richard Duckett and 
went to live in the northern part of Prince 
George's County. 

When the war broke out, Elizabeth War- 
ing 's two oldest brothers determined to offer 
their services to the Confederacy. One 
brother was nineteen, while the other was still 
at school. After they had announced their 
intention of joining the Confederacy, their 
[34] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

father accompanied them at night to the 
Potomac^ over which they swam their horses 
and with many of their friends and neighbors, 
joined the Southern forces below Alexandria. 
On Christmas Day, 1862, the oldest brother 
died of typhoid fever and was buried at 
Strasburg, Virginia. The younger brother, 
however, was not strong and was sent home 
with an honorable discharge from further 
service. The departure of the Waring 
brothers and their friends had attracted the 
attention of Federal detectives. The Waring 
house was secretly watched and the negro 
coachman was bribed to act as informer. 
Consequently, when the younger Waring 
brother returned to his home, the house was 
surrounded and he and his father were 
arrested. 

The writer had the privilege of hearing 
the story of this arrest and of the events that 
followed direct from the brave woman who 
is the subject of this sketch. She also placed 
at his disposal the notes she had made of all 
her war-time adventures, from which she 
never rested until she had seen Cabinet of- 
ficials. President Lincoln, and staff officers of 
[35] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the Union army, in order to secure her 
father's release from prison and to have re- 
stored to him much of his confiscated prop- 
erty. She was a typical Maryland woman of 
Southern sympathies, who remained, for the 
greater part of the war, within the Federal 
lines. The story is continued very largely 
in Mrs. Duckett's own words, except where 
the exigences of space require some elimina- 
tion of detail. 

MES. duckett's NAERATIVE 

My brother, William W. Waring, came 
home May 12, 1863, and with him came 
Walter Bowie, a relative and a Confederate 
soldier. At the time of their arrival, I was 
visiting my old home, but my father was away 
engaged in superintending the cultivation of 
the crops on another place. When he came 
home, he was arrested at his gate; but none 
of his children knew of his arrest until the 
following morning. 

During the night, we were awakened by a 
loud knocking at the front door, coupled ^vith 
the demand : ' ' Open in the name of the Gov- 
ernment ! If you don't, we will burn the house 
[36] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

over your heads!" We looked out to find 
all of the five doors guarded by Federal sol- 
diers. In the dark, for fear 
Arrest of lights would betray us, we hur- 

Es^cape^oT^^' riedly hid a large Confederate 
Walter Bowie mail, which was then waiting 
to be sent South. My brother 
put on his uniform and went down stairs to 
open the door. To the statement that he was 
'^ under arrest," he simply said, ^'I expected 
that," and gave himself up. 

In the meantime, we were concerned in get- 
ting Walter Bowie out of the house. The 
soldiers called for water, and our opportun- 
ity came. Though the family had harbored a 
betrayer in the coachman, there were other 
servants who were faithful to the last. Un- 
der hasty instructions, our waiter purposely 
broke the house pump and declared that the 
only way to get water was to send to the 
spring at the bottom of the hill. 

Walter was then in the kitchen and the sol- 
diers were searching all the bed rooms in the 
house, locking the doors of each as they 
finished their search. I made use of this time 
in coloring his face and hands with black 
[37] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

cosmetic. I made him take off his military 
boots and prepare to escape in his stockings, 
which, fortunately, were brown. I then made 
him put on a dress belonging to our tall, 
black nurse, Peggy. I wrapped his head in a 
red bandanna, took his revolver from him, 
together with his plans of the fortifications at 
Washington, which he, in some manner, had 
secured. I put these in my dress, for I knew 
if they were found upon him, that would mean 
certain death. 

The faithful Peggy balanced a tub on her 
head and Walter put another under his arm. 
Together they passed between two detectives 
and set out for the spring. One of the detec- 
tives, seeing a horse saddled, turned to the 
negro man holding it and asked sharply: 
''Whose horse is that?" The frightened 
negro replied : ' ' Mars ' Walt Bowie 's, suh ! ' ' 

At this, the disguised tub-bearer dropped 
''her" burden and set out at a high rate of 
speed for the steep ravine below. The de- 
tectives fired at him, but Walter knew every 
step of the way and in the darkness easily 
made his escape. The detectives now pro- 
ceeded to lock up all in my mother's room, 
[38] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duchett 

not knowing that there was an outlet from 
there to Peggy's room above. There we 
burned the Southern mail and Walter's 
fortification plans. 

In the morning, the plantation was aroused, 
the negroes coming up from their quarters. 
After my mother had directed a breakfast to 
be prepared for thirty men, carriage was or- 
dered, with the coachman, John, who had be- 
trayed us, on the boot. My father was brought 
up and made to sit by him. Two of my sisters, 
my mother's niece, and I were inside, together 
with the few things we were allowed to take 
with us. My brother and a cousin were on 
horses under guard of the Federal soldiers. 
Mother, one sister, a little brother, my baby 
daughter, and two guests were left behind.* 

The carriage with my father and the rest of 
us passed Old St. Paul's Church near 
Marlboro on Whitsunday morning. Two 
brothers named Perry rode up and asked the 
soldiers what they were ''going to do with the 



*Mrs. Duckett added, by way of parenthesis, that after 
the guard had left, Walter Bowie returned to the house, 
got a comfortable breakfast, even if it was "second table," 
evaded another force sent from Point Lookout to capture 
him, and crossed the Potomac in safety. 

[39] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

old Colonel" (Colonel Waring). They were 
promptly arrested for their pains and car- 
ried to Washington with us. As we passed 
the tavern kept by Mrs. Surratt at Surratts- 
ville, the kindly old woman came to the door 
and wanted my father to refresh himself. 
Mint juleps were brought out to the "prison- 
ers," while the soldiers, at my father's 
request, were '^treated" within the tavern, 
two at a time, for fear of an attempted 
rescue. 

^e reached Washington late in the after- 
noon. The other women in the party were 
taken to Willard's Hotel and placed under 
guard. My father and I were taken to the 
Old Capitol Prison. Our supper consisted of 
some undrinkable coffee and coarse, dark 
bread, — nothing else. The beds were covered 
with blue calico, open in the middle, and filled 
with straw, so that the straw could be re- 
moved. Fortunately, after the first day, we 
were not forced to eat this prison fare, be- 
cause friends on the outside supplied us with 
food. 

Though a private citizen, my father was 
tried by court martial on three charges: for 
[40] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

harboring ** rebels"; for harboring a spy; 

and for having Southern mail in his house. 

Colonel Joseph Holt was the 

Trial of judge-advocate ; and Reverdy 

Mrs. Duckett's t i i i.^ v.^ i. 

Father and Johnson, perhaps the ablest 

Brother Union man in Maryland, my 

father's counsel. My brother 
and I were solemnly sworn in on the Bible 
as witnesses against our own father then in 
jeopardy of his life. Furthermore, his own 
slaves were called in and compelled to wit- 
ness against him. 

Although my brother was arrested in his 
Confederate uniform. Judge Holt held him 
as a spy, and he was put back in the Old 
Capitol Prison, where I, too, was recommitted 
by the court. My father was condemned and 
sentenced to imprisonment at Fort Delaware 
for the remainder of the war. 

After I had been in the Old Capitol Prison 
one month, Judge Turner sent for me from 
the office of Secretary Stanton. Influential 
friends had interested themselves in my 
plight, among them General Martindale, the 
military governor of Washington. They said 
I should be released at once if I took the 
[41] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

*4ron bound" oath. This I refused to do and 
was sent back to prison. The next day, how- 
ever, Major Turner sent for me and released 
me without forcing me to take the oath, tell- 
ing me to go at once to General Martindale 's 
office. 

General Martindale told me he did not wish 
to make war upon women and children, but 
asked me to promise not to do anything to 
get myself or family into trouble, and he 
would forward letters to the members of my 
family in the South. Lieutenant Montgomery 
even furnished me with Confederate stamps. 
I afterwards saw General Martindale on sev- 
eral occasions and he proved to be a true 
friend and a gentleman. In the meantime, 
my sisters had been sent South. 

My brother, however, was still in prison, 
and General Martindale told me that he was 
in great danger of being shot 
Calls on Presi- qj. hanged. He urged me to go 
dent Lincoln , -r, • i i t • i a 

and Secretary *^ ^^^ President Lmcoln. Ac- 
Stanton cordingly, I went to the White 

House and was taken to Presi- 
dent Lincoln's office. I stood there some time 
before he noticed me. 

\42] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

The President then said : ' ' Why don 't you 
sit down?" 

I replied: "Because. you did not ask me." 

Thereupon, he pushed a chair towards me, 
took his long legs off the green baize-cov- 
ered table where he had them, and asked me 
what I wanted. I told him that my brother 
was no spy and that he was arrested in his 
uniform after an honorable discharge from 
the Confederate army. 

In the course of my talk with him, the 
President said, '*Mrs. Duckett, what are you 
Eebels for?" 

I replied, "Because, Mr. Lincoln, we can- 
not help it. ' ' 

Mr. Lincoln was kind in his manner to me 
and gave me a card to Secretary Stanton on 
which was written : ' ' The Honorable Secre- 
tary will see Mrs. Duckett and hear her." 

I went to the War Department and was 
ushered past a long line of waiting people, 
both men and women. I handed the card to 
Stanton, and I can see him now. He took the 
President's card between his thumbs and 
forefingers, tore it in half, and threw the 
pieces on the floor. He roughly refused my 
[43] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

request to go to Fort Delaware to see my 
father ; and I knew that it would be of no use 
to talk to him about my brother. I was in- 
dignant over his attitude toward me and his 
contempt for the President's message; so I 
said, ''Mr. Stanton, I am going to Fort Dela- 
ware!'' He replied, "Very well, Mrs. Duck- 
ett, ' ' and I left his office. 

I immediately left Washington for Prince 
George's County, Maryland. By means of 
the "underground railroad," I communicated 
with Walter Bowie. Walter went to Colonel 
Eobert Ould, Confederate Commissioner of 
Exchange of Prisoners at City Point, Vir- 
ginia, who was an old friend of the family. 
Commissioner Ould at once notified Stanton 
and Judge Holt, that if William Waring was 
injured in any way, he would straightway 
hang General Cochran, who was a friend of 
Stanton. 

My brother was put on the list of prison- 
ers for exchange and sent to Point Lookout. 
When the cold weather came, 
Mrs. Duckett j^^ ^^^^ gyg other young men 

Brother's Life biiilt a hut of Cracker boards 
into which they crawled at 
night. They had a small stove with a pipe 
[44] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

running through the top of the hut. As time 
passed and he saw he was not exchanged, he 
gave his blanket, uniform, boots, and all he 
had in return for the name of another 
prisoner, who was physically a wreck, and 
about to be sent South ; for this was the only 
kind of men they were willing to exchange. 
My brother served again in the South and 
surrendered with General Johnston in 1865. 
When I returned to Washington, I found 
that my father had been sent to Fort Dela- 
ware, and I was miable to get permission to 
see him. From Washington, I 
went to call on United States 
Senator Wall at Burlington, New Jersey. 
Senator Wall was good enough to become in- 
terested in my efforts to free my father and 
he introduced me to a number of people in 
Philadelphia. 

On one occasion Miss Mary Wall took me 
to the Chester Hospital where were a num- 
ber of the wounded from the battlefield of 
Gettysburg. We saw a Northern woman 
walking through the hospital. She carried a 
bundle of tracts in her arms, and with her was 
a negro carrying a large basket of delicacies. 
The delicacies were given to the Federal 
[45] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

wounded while the tracts were for distribu- 
tion among the poor Confederates. 

As we were watching her, she came upon 
two young boys from the "hill country" of 
Alabama. One had lost his right leg, the 
other his left. She said to one of them : 

* ' My friend, do you know whom Christ died 
for!" 

To which the wounded mountaineer re- 
plied: ''I ain't talking no conundrums now. 
I want something to eat." 

The lady evidently thought the case was 
hopeless, both morally and physically, for she 
passed on with both her food and religion.* 

After her departure, the kind-hearted Miss 
Wall asked one of the poor fellows if there 



*Tlie teachings of tlie lay abolitionists and their eloquent 
assistants in the pulpit apparently gave many of the good 
people in the North the impression that the Southern 
people were heathen as well as barbarous. The story of 
the lady with the tracts is typical; so, indeed, is that of 
the kindness of Miss Wall as representing those Northern- 
ers who knew better. Prior to the war, the Northern pul- 
pits resounded with politico-moral harangues on the "in- 
famous" conduct of the Southern people. It is no wonder 
the congregations got the idea that the Southern people 
were heathen. As a matter of fact, however, the "Old 
South" led the country in church membership and activities 
in proportion to the population. The sermons of their 
pastors preached "orthodox, old-fashioned" religion. 

[46] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

was anything he wanted. He replied, ' ' A pair 
of slippers, ladies; you'll have to buy only 
one pair for both of us, as I have but one foot 
and my friend has the other. ' ' We got fruit 
and food for these brave cripples and the de- 
sired pair of slippers for both of them. 

After supplying the wants of other wounded 
soldiers, the money therefor being contrib- 
uted by Senator Wall, I left for Baltimore 
without having yet found a 
Mrs. Duckett ^^^y ^^ g^g ^^y father. Gen- 
Visits Fort n oy 1 1 . 1 
Delaware ®^'^^ Schenck was m command, 

and I discovered that a lieu- 
tenant in Schenck's office was attentive to a 
Baltimore girl. Through her, I met the 
lieutenant, who told me he could not give me 
permission to go to Fort Delaware, but he 
would tell me hoiu I could get there. Conse- 
quently, through the influence of Unionist 
friends, I got a pass, at least out of Balti- 
more; and I set out for Fort Delaware at 
night on a canal boat. Recaptured prisoners 
on this boat told me that my father had been 
given the parole of the Island by General 
Schoeph, and that the only way I could get 
over was to wait for the milk-boat, which left 
[47] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

at five 'clock in the morning. The milk-boat 
plan was accepted; but when I arrived at 
Fort Delaware, the guards would not permit 
me to land. My father, however, heard from 
fellow prisoners of my arrival. He went to 
General Schoeph, who told him I could re- 
main two days only, for Secretary Stanton 
was due on the day I must depart. Captain 
Kessler gave up his rooms to my father and 
myself. Captain Ord invited us to breakfast 
with him. Afterwards, I saw the poor Vicks- 
burg prisoners walked around the place. 
Some of them, worn out with hunger, droppecj 
from exhaustion, and yet, as I say, the Fed- 
eral officers had the best of food and could 
get it in plenty. 

The floor where the suffering prisoners 
slept was flushed over with tubs of water but 
not dried ; so when the wretched men were put 
back on the wet boards in their ragged and 
insufficient blankets, the dampness killed 
them or caused fatal illnesses in the case of 
men enfeebled through insufficient and bad 
food. 

On my return to Washington, I went to see 
Major Turner. I asked him to tell Secretary 
[48] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

Stanton that I had been to Fort Delaware, 
and had seen my father. On hearing the 
message, Stanton told Major Turner to tell 
me ''to go to hell!" 

In the fall, I again succeeded in getting to 
Fort Delaware. I took my little daughter 
with me and we stayed at a lodging house 
outside the Fort. My father was permitted 
to come to see us. While there, my little 
daughter wandered into the small-pox hos- 
pital, not knowing what the yellow flag meant. 
One of Morgan's Confederate surgeons 
brought her back to me. On returning to 
Baltimore, I prepared to go South to visit my 
mother and I went to Dr. Nathan R. Smith 
to get some vaccine. Dr. Smith gave me more 
than I needed but asked me not to use any 
until I arrived in Martinsburg. This he did 
on account of the great need in the South for 
medicines.* 

When I started for Martinsburg, I was 
turned back at the Relay House, Maryland, 



*This incident is of interest as showing the variety 
of schemes by which the people of the South "imported" 
even the smallest contributions in supplies of any kind, 
particularly medicines which, as before stated, were "con- 
traband." 

[49] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

because I had no pass. When I returned that 
night to the station at Baltimore, McClintock, 
. the agent for the Baltimore 

and Ohio Railroad, although 
a Union officer, secured for me a pass as the 
wife of one of General Sigel's officers then 
in the Valley of Virginia. Some soldiers at 
the station tried to get Jane, my child's 
colored nurse, to desert us. Jane was faith- 
ful, however, and simply said: ^'I mus' go 
wid Mis 'Katie."* 

That night was an awful one. It was late 
in the autumn of 1863, and a heavy rain 
changed to sleet and snow as we neared our 
destination. There was hut one unoccupied 
double seat in the car, so I was put in that 
with my child on my lap. Jane sat beside 
me with her old-fashioned carpet-bag, which 
she would never let go out of her hand. I 



*"Katie" was the name of Mrs. Duckett's little daughter. 
It was a remarkable fact that in going South, from an 
official Federal viewpoint, Jane was going from slavery into 
freedom; for the Emancipation Proclamation offered manu- 
mission to the slaves in the Confederacy only. Within the 
Federal lines, therefore, Jane and the other slaves re- 
mained in slavery by the very provisions of the Proclama- 
tion, since the Proclamation was "a war measure" which 
may have aroused the negroes behind the Confederate 
armies and • thus brought the war to an earlier end. 

[ 50 ] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

was the only woman on the car. The men, 
all soldiers, had been drinking, and I was 
really afraid to sleep; but I had a revolver 
in my belt which I intended to use if neces- 
sary. Once I had to call for the protection of 
the officer whom Mr. McClintock had asked 
to guard me, who thereafter stayed in the car. 

When we were within three miles of 
Martinsburg, the train stopped with a violent 
lurch. I looked up, and at each end of the 
car stood a tall man in grey with revolvers 
pointed. They ordered all hands up and de- 
manded revolvers, boots, and money. Their 
work was quickly done. In a few moments, 
we heard the ''Rebel yell" outside and the 
Confederate cavalry raider, Harry Gilmor, 
and his men were off to the mountains with 
their plunder. 

The greatest confusion followed. The of- 
ficer in charge said that the "Rebels" had 
torn up the track and that I should have to 
walk the three miles to Martinsburg. He ap- 
pointed a Sergeant with lighted lantern to go 
with us. Our baggage was left piled up be- 
side the track, and Jane with her carpet-bag, 
my child, and myself set out. By turns we 
[51] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

carried the child until, at last, she let the 
Sergeant carry her for us. It was a dreary 
walk and very cold. When we reached 
Martinsburg and turned down the main street 
across the bridge, the icy winds blowing 
down from the mountains were terrible. "We 
went to Mrs. Buchanan's place, where my 
mother was boarding; and we remained in 
Martinsburg until the spring, but my sister 
Julia went to Richmond to work in the Con- 
federate Treasury Department. 

Early in 1864, Archbishop Hughes, of New 
York, wrote to President Lincoln, request- 
ing the release of Colonel Waring, who was 
a member of an old Roman 
President Lin- Catholic family of Maryland. 
mJs. Duckett's T^^ Archbishop stated that he 
Father had good grounds to expect his 

request to be granted since he 
had sent 60,000 foreigners into the Federal 
service, and that this was his first request of 
the President. That letter, together with a 
petition from the Court of Appeals and one 
from prominent Marylanders induced Presi- 
dent Lincoln to sign my father's release from 
Fort Delaware. 

[52] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

My father at once came to Martinsburg to 
meet us. While he was there, my eldest sister, 
Priscilla, let me know she was in Winchester 
and that she was trying to get on to see us. 
I went to General Averell of the Federal Cav- 
alry, and he let one of his lieutenants give me 
a pass, which I sent to Winchester. She came 
in on Saturday. We were with father and 
mother in church, six of us together, for the 
first time in years, when we heard the clank- 
ing of sabres, and two soldiers from Wells' 
Infantry walked up and touched me on the 
shoulder. I asked them to wait until church 
was out, then Avent to headquarters with them. 
Commandant Wells asked me how Miss War- 
ing got into Martinsburg. I told him a cart, 
a horse, and a colored man brought her in. 
He asked what was the name of the man. I 
did not know the man's name. Where did 
she get her pass f From headquarters. Where 
was the pass? She had destroyed it. Then 
he said: ''Prepare to send her right back 
to-morrow. ' ' 

The next week, my father, with my mother, 
his little son, and my little daughter, returned 
to Baltimore. They would not allow me to go 
[53] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

on account of the pass I had got for my sister; 
but on the way through Harper's Ferry, 
my mother saw our kind friend, Captain 
Baugher, who was on Sigel's Staff. He 
promised her to get a pass for me. In a few 
days he sent it to me signed with General 
Sigel's name; so I destroyed it as soon as I 
reached Baltimore. 

My father and mother went to Washing- 
ton and saw President Lincoln, who said he 
would do what he could to have their prop- 
erty restored to them. My mother, however, 
had endured so much and had gone through 
so many hardships that her health broke 
down; and we were obliged to take her to a 
house on Madison Street, Baltimore, where 
our friends supplied us with everything we 
needed. 

The noted physicians of that day, Dr. 
Nathan R. Smith and Dr. John Buckler, at- 
tended my mother and told me 
Mrs. Duckett J nmst let the family know how 
President^^ ill she was. Word was sent 

Lincoln through the lines to my young 

sister Alice in Richmond and to 
my brother William. The latter accompanied 
[54] 



n 



Narrative of Mrs. Duckett 

my sister to the Potomac. The ''mosquito 
fleet" captain refused to cross on account 
of the Federal gunboats on the river; but 
my brother could not afford to spend 
time in fearful waiting for what might or 
might not be a better opportunity to cross,. 
Pointing his pistol at the head of the Captain, 
he told him he must take them across the 
river that night. The night was dark and the 
river was crossed in safety. My brother took 
my sister as far as the nearest house and 
returned to the Virginia shore. My sister was 
sent on from house to house until she reached 
Baltimore and stood before us. Upon her 
arrival, we went to consult Mr. S. Teackle 
Wallis, who told me to report to General 
Schenck at once, and, if necessary, take the 
oath, so I should be allowed to remain with 
my ill mother. He advised us to see Presi- 
dent Lincoln about a like provision for my 
sister. 

Accordingly, we set out for Washington to 
see the President. Near the Annapolis road, 
through some mistake of signals, our train 
had a severe collision with another one bear- 
ing a regiment of negro soldiers. Many of 
[55] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the negroes were killed. We were not hurt, 
but we had a fearful time getting out of the 
wreckage. From the scene of the wreck, we 
went to Annapolis, where we took the oath. 
The next morning, on our way to Washing- 
ton, we passed the point of the wreck and 
saw the broken cars piled up in great heaps. 

On our arrival in Washington, we called 
on Mr. Montgomery Blair, who took us to see 
the President. During the conversation, Mr. 
Blair told Mr. Lincohi how I had sent word 
to Stanton that I had got to Fort Delaware 
and of Stanton's message to me "to go to 
hell ! ' ' Mr. Blair also told the President that 
I had promptly sent a message [undelivered) 
to the Secretary of War saying that "I did 
not wish to go there for fear of finding him. ' ' 

I can even now see Mr. Lincoln throw his 
head back and laugh heartily as Mr. Blair 
told the story. He then wrote on a card: 

''Miss Alice Maria Waring may remain at 
home as long as she behaves herself." — 
A. Lincoln. 

Hardly had I arrived at home before one of 
the children ran in to say that the ''house 
was guarded. ' ' I went to the door and Lieu- 
[56] 



Narrative of Mrs. Duchett 

tenant Cheesboro said that he was very sorry, 
but Miss Alice Waring would have to return 
through the lines that night. In reply, I 
handed him the President's card and asked 
him what he thought of that, whereupon he 
took off his cap, waved it, and led his men 
away. 

We remained at the Baltimore house until 
the Fall, when we moved to my home in 
Prince George's County. There my mother 
died in November. In the meantime. Presi- 
dent Lincoln had directed that the Patuxent 
farm should be restored to my father, to- 
gether with what furniture and other prop- 
erty he could swear to in a warehouse at 
Alexandria. We returned to our ' ' old home ' ' 
in May, after the surrender of Lee and John- 
ston in the Spring of 1865. 

NOTES AND SIDELIGHTS 

"There never was a house divided against itself in 
sharper contrast than Maryland in 1861. Marylanders loved 
the Union as it was, because Marylanders had so largely 
made it what it was. With patriots of the Northern 
States and of the Old Dominion, the inheritors of 
Carroll's sacred trust" and of "Howard's warlike thrust" 
were striving to awaken that spirit of conciliation 

[57] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

toward the far South which had animated Burke toward 
the protesting colonies of Great Britain. 

"From the secession of South Caro- 
The Stand of lina in December, 1860, to April, 1861, 
Maryland and the efforts and hopes and prayers of the 
tne upper -^^^^ citizens of Baltimore were directed 

^ . J toward the saving of the Union. Vir- 

Coercion gi^ii^'j North Carolina, Tennessee, and 

Arkansas had not yet seceded. Mary- 
land stood firmly with these probably with less secession 
sentiment within her borders than any of them. Yet Mary- 
land, certainly the more populous and influential Eastern 
half with its stronger Revolutionary inheritance, was ever 
a Southern State, and she was linked with the South by 
the closest ties of commercial, social, and historical rela- 
tionship. On the other hand, Baltimore was the single 
city south of Mason and Dixon's line that had large 
manufacturing interests. These interests tended to link 
the city with the Congressional majorities of the North, 
whose protective tariff policy was the burden of com- 
plaint in the agricultural South from nullification in 1832 
to secession in 1860. 

"Such was the unique position of Baltimore in the begin- 
ning of a crisis wherein the highest authorities of the 
National Government had been standing confused and 
irresolute for months. We read in history only of the out- 
break of April against the Federal troops as represented 
by the Massachusetts regiment, but strong expressions of 
sentiment prior to this were exhibited against any puiliG 
manifestation of -partiality for the Southern Confederacy. 
The records show that prior to April, 1861, the appearance 
of a Confederate emblem was frequently the signal for 
attack, and up to the time of the Federal call for troops 
of April 15 it seems that citizens of Baltimore had of them- 
selves successfully prohibited the display of a secession 

[58] 



Notes on Mrs. DuckeWs Narrative 

flag. This open hostility to Confederate emblems extended 
even to the shipping of the harbor; and while in Northern 
ports, ships for some time flew the Palmetto flag of South 
Carolina with impunity, at Baltimore it was torn down 
with violence."* 

There are many matters of interest and importance con- 
nected with the firing upon Fort Sumter which are not 
generally mentioned in our American his- 
rlow rort tories. These are given in some detail 

r,.^ir*1?- A^^ in Dr. H. A. White's Life of Robert E. 
to be Fired , „ , . , .. . V.- , . 

TT_Q_ Lee. Such information is essential to an 

understanding of the whole subject of 
the beginnings of the sectional conflict. 

..." 'It will be an advantage for the South to go off,' 
said H. W. Beecher. After the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln 
there was a strong current opinion in the North that the 
Federal troops should be withdrawn from the Southern 
forts. President Lincoln's 'organ,' the National Republican, 
announced that the Cabinet meeting of March 9 had de- 
termined to surrender both Sumter and Pickens. That 
Anderson would be withdrawn from Sumter 'was the uni- 
versal impression in Washington' (Rhodes, U. S., vol. iii., 
p. 332 ) . Welling, of the National Intelligencer, was re- 
quested by Seward to communicate the Cabinet's purpose 
to George W. Summers, member of the Virginia Conven- 



*Introductory paragraphs of an article in the Maryland 
Historical Magazine for March, 1919, on the "Passage of 
the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment Through Baltimore, 
April 19, 1861." 

B. B. Munford's "Virginia's Attitude Towards Slavery 
and Secession" is an invaluable work in exposition of 
matters widely misunderstood in respect to the Upper 
South. Professor Albert Bushnell Hart of Harvard Uni- 
versity declared that upon reading the book he felt obliged 
to modify or change the views of a lifetime. 

[59] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

tion {The Nation, Dec. 4, 1879). March 15 Secretary 
Seward unofficially notified the Confederate Commissioners, 
through Justice Campbell of the Supreme Court, that Sum- 
ter would be yielded at once to the Southern Confederacy." 
. . . "March 24 brought Colonel Ward H. Lamon of 
Washington to Fort Sumter. He obtained permission from 
Governor Pickens to visit Major Anderson upon the repre- 
sentation that he had come as 'confidential agent of the 
President,' to make arrangements for the removal of the 
garrison. 'The impression produced upon Major Anderson 
by Lamon, as well as upon the officers and men of the gar- 
rison, was that the command was to be withdrawn.' Laman 
informed Governor Pickens 'that the President professed a 
desire to evacuate the work.' After Lamon's return to 
Washington he sent a written message to Pickens, that he 
'hoped to return in a very few days to withdraw the com- 
mand.' " 

The Mrs. Mary E. Surratt referred to by Mrs. Duckett 
was afterwards convicted of complicity in the criminal 
attack upon President Lincoln. Another innocent person, 
of the same general neighborhood, might have lost his life 
on a charge of conspiracy, but for a fortunate incident. 
This was Dr. Richard H. Stuart of Virginia. The story of 
how Dr. Stuart saved himself from almost certain death 
or imprisonment is an interesting one. 

A few days after the deatli of the President, the crippled 
assassin crossed the Potomac and appeared in Virginia on 
the place of Dr. Stuart, who was fortu- 
Mary E. Surratt nately ill at the time and would not 
and Dr. Richard see Booth. Thereupon Booth wrote 
H. Stuart some insulting remarks on a slip of 

paper. When this was shown to Dr. 
Stuart, the latter threw it at an open fire, but Major 

[60] 



Notes on Mrs. Duckett's Narrative 

Hunter, suspecting something wrong, advised him to save 
it and rescued it from the flames after its edges had been 
scorched. 

This fortunate interposition of his son-in-law probably 
saved Dr. Stuart from the fate of Mrs. Surratt or that of 
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who had innocently given assistance 
to the fleeing assassin and who was exiled to the Dry 
Tortugas. When Dr. Stuart was arrested and accused of 
complicity in the assassination of the President, he pro- 
duced the written evidence of Booth's abuse, whereupon 
he was released. 

The Colonel Ould mentioned in Mrs. Duckett's narrative 

enjoyed the esteem of well-known and highly honored 

Southern leaders. This is here noted because, during and 

_ . after the war. Colonel Ould was held up 

Prisoners 

to general opprobrium as an infamous 

character. Tliis view was actively cir- 
culated by partisans whose aims were to conceal the reasons 
for the failure of exchange of prisoners and the awful con- 
ditions in many of the Federal prison camps. The suf- 
ferings of the Northern prisoners in the South were ter- 
rible; for the Confederate Commissary department broke 
down in furnishing supplies for Confederate soldiers, who 
were often barefooted and generally half clad; but it 
should always be remembered that Commissioner Ould and 
Confederate authorities offered, in desperation, to let the 
Federal surgeons provide food and medicines for the North- 
ern prisoners. They even offered to buy medicines, (de- 
clared contraband of war by the Federal Government ) , with 
cotton and gold. Finally, they offered to send thousands of 
their prisoners North loithout requiring any equivalent, 
if the Federal authorities would provide transportation. 
Transportation was at last sent, after many months, but 

[61] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

too late to prevent the great mortality of the summer 
of 1864. 

President Lincoln did what he could or dared to lessen 
the horrors of war, but Secretary Stanton seemed to take 
a savage delight in brutality of attitude and action towards 
prisoners and non-combatants. The building of the flimsy 
huts referred to by young Waring was a customary thing 
at Fort Delaware, at Point Lookout, and some of the other 
prisons. The prisoners were not furnished with nails. 
Sometimes the huts were blown down over their heads; and 
on at least one occasion a hut was "purloined" by leas 
fortunate or less skillful prisoners from over the heads of 
the sleeping inmates, the "incident affording all considerable 
amusement, except those who lost their home." 

In reference to the matter of feeding the prisoners, 
Thomson M. King, a Maryland Confederate, was one of a 
number of exchanged prisoners who participated in the 
following episode, which, briefly, is as follows: Not far 
from Mason and Dixon's line, a train bearing exchanged 
Federal prisoners on the way North stopped by the side 
of a train bearing Confederate prisoners to the South. The 
former had been provided with rations in the shape of corn 
pones or crusts. Tliese pones were very distasteful to 
Federal prisoners who were not used to such fare, espe- 
cially as they were made from "unbolted" meal. Not 
infrequently this form of food proved fatal to those not 
used to it, but the Southern commissary department often 
supplied even less than this to Confederate soldiers, who, 
at times, ate the raw corn in the field. The "Yanks," 
therefore, were carrying some of these cornbread crusts 
North as souvenirs of "Rebel" hospitality. As the trains 
stopped alongside of each other, the prisoners exchanged 
banter, and a few of the "Yanks" threw the detested crusta 

[62] 



Notes on Mrs. DuckeU's Narrative 

into the ear windows at the "Rebs." To the utter amaze- 
ment of the former, the starving "Rebs" devoured the 
crusts "and yelled for more." 

"In regard to the treatment of prisoners, the sweeping 
condemnation of James G. Blaine, delivered in an outburst 
of partisan condemnation of the South, is still in a general 
way believed by Americans who have echoed them in later 
years, although in milder terms and in limitation of the 
number of those held to have been guilty. Mr. Blaine 
declared some ten years after the war: 'Mr. Davis, Presi- 
dent of the Confederate States, was the author, knowingly, 
deliberately, guiltily, and wilfully, of the gigantic murder 
and crime at Andersonville. And I here before God, meas- 
uring my words, knowing their full extent and import, 
declare that neither the deeds of the Duke of Alva in the 
low coimtries nor the massacre of St. Bartholomew nor 
the thumbscrews and engines of torture of the Spanish In- 
quisition begin to compare in atrocity with the hideous 
crimes of Andersonville.' 

"Historians do not now accept this statement as in any 
way true, solemnly as it was made, by a man who a few 
years later barely missed election to the highest office in 
the gift of the people of the United States. Unfortunately, 
they refer the student to a mass of matter the major part 
of which is as false to-day as when James G. Blaine based 
upon it his colossal libel of Jefferson Davis and the mili- 
tary and civil authorities of the Southern Confederacy. 
The so-called 'general historian' has dropped this matter in 
detail, though Mr. Blaine exclaimed dramatically that it 
would remain as the 'blackest page' recorded in the annals 
of all time. On the other hand, innumerable monographs 
have been written upon this subject, four-fifths of which 
are either false per se or else based on false evidence such 

[63] 



i 



The Women of the South in War Times 

as that which has misled so many Americans from the 
time of James G. Blaine and contemporary historians to 
editors of and writers in magazines and newspapers of the 
second decade in the twentieth century. 

" 'God knows we suffered there,' said one of the ex- 
prisoners of Andersonville ; 'but we found out that the 
Confederate soldier had our fare and often less, and he 
was often as shoeless as we in time became.' " — From "The 
Treatment of Prisoners in the Confederacy," Confederate 
Veteran, April, 1918. 

John T. Morse, Jr., a peculiarly biased and unreliable 
writer on sectional issues, says of Stanton in his introduc- 
tion to the Diary of Gideon Welles: 

"Of course, not many pages can be turned without en- 
countering the names of Seward, Chase, and Stanton. Of 
these, Stanton, the friendless one, evidently affected Mr. 
Welles as he affected pretty much every one else who came 
much into contact with him. No one liked him living; 
scarcely any one has wished to say much for him dead. An 
advocate biographer has indeed presented a sort of brief 
for him, and Mr. Rhodes, kindliest of historians, has men- 
tioned his virtues; for, in fact, he had virtues, — devotion 
to the cause, a very greed for hard work, financial integrity, 
and merciless energy against the rascal contractors. But 
it cannot be forgotten that he had the odious faults of a 
bully; he was violent and insolent, but only when violence 
and insolence were safe; he was supposed to be personally 
timid; he could be mean and unjust; above all, he repeat- 
edly outraged the magnanimous forbearance of Mr. Lincoln 
in a way which no American can forgive." 

Incidentally, from time to time. Secretary Welles seems 
to contradict the estimate given by Mr. Morse as to Stan- 
ton's "financial integrity." Welles, on one occasion, wrote 
of Stanton as follows: 

[64] 



Notes on Mrs. Duchett's Narrative 

"In his dislike of Stanton, Blair is sincere and earnest, 
but in his detestation he may fail to allow Stanton quali- 
ties that he really possesses. Stanton 
Character of jg ^^ favorite of mine. He has energy 

cK^ ^ and application, is industrious and 

Stanton j • . u .l j • ^i,- x. 

driving, but devises nothing, shuns re- 
sponsibility, and I doubt his sincerity always. He wants 
no general to overtop him, is jealous of others in any posi- 
tion who have influence and popular regard; but he has 
cunning and skill, dissembles his feelings, in short, is a 
hypocrite, a moral coward, while affecting to be, and to a 
certain extent being, brusque, overvaliant in words. Blair 
says he is dishonest, that he has taken bribes, and that he 
is a double-dealer; that he is now deceiving both Seward 
and Chase; that Seward brought him into the Cabinet 
after Chase stole Cameron and that Chase is now stealing 
Stanton. Reminds me that he exposed Santon's corrupt 
character, and stated an instance which had come to his 
knowledge and where he has proof of a bribe having been 
received; that he made this exposure when Stanton was a 
candidate for Attorney for the District. Yet Seward, 
knowing these facts, had induced and persuaded the Presi- 
dent to bring this corrupt man into the War Department. 
The country was now suffering from this mistaken act. 
Seward wanted a creature of his own in the War Depart- 
ment, that he might use, but Stanton was actually using 
Seward." 



[65 



THE PUBLICATION AND SINGING OF 
''MY MARYLAND" 

''Ty/TY Maryland," widely considered the 
greatest of American war lyrics, was 
written in April, 1861, by James Ryder Ran- 
dall, who was then an "exile" in Louisiana. 
The verses appeared on a ''broadside" in 
Baltimore, the poet's native city, on May 31st. 
The poem became immediately popular and 
the words were soon adapted by the Misses' 
Gary to the music of ' ' Lauriger Horatius. ' ' 

The new song was taken up at once by the 
"Monument Street Girls," an enthusiastic 
group of Southern sympathizers. By a curi- 
ous coincidence, one of these young women, 
Rebecca Lloyd Nicholson, was the grand- 
daughter of Judge Joseph Hopper Nicholson, 
who helped to adapt the words of "The 
Star-Spangled Banner" to the music of 
"Anacreon in Heaven" forty-seven years be- 
fore, also in Baltimore. 

After "My Maryland" had been sung with 
the utmost enthusiasm, to the great danger 
[ 66 1 



Publication of ^'My Maryland'' 

of the arrest and imprisonment of all con- 
cerned, Rebecca. Nicholson suggested to her 
friend, Rozier Dulany, that he have the 
words and music published. Dulany, how- 
ever, recalling the fact that General Butler 
had ordered even the arrest of women and 
children for wearing Southern colors, and 
that ''Rebel" songs "vvere under the ban, dis- 
creetly declined the undertaking. The spir- 
ited American girl at once replied that she 
herself would assume the risk. This she 
did at once, and "My Maryland" appeared 
in musical form within a few days there- 
after.* 

On the fourth of July, 1861, Misses Hettie 
and Jennie Gary, who first sang ''My Mary- 
land" in Baltimore, "ran the blockade" 
from that city to Orange Court House, Vir- 
ginia. A few days after their arrival at 
Orange, the battle of Manassas took place. 
At the instance of some of the Maryland 
volunteers. General Beauregard sent passes 
and an escort so that the Carys and their 
friends might visit their relatives and ac- 



*"Poems of James Rvder Randall." 

^ [67] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

quaintances in the camp. A relative, Captain 
Sterrett, who had been in charge of the 
Manassas fortifications, was appointed to 
provide shelter and entertainment. 

The visitors received a royal welcome from 
the homesick soldiers. On the evening of 
their arrival, they were given a serenade by 
the ^'Washington Artillery Band," aided by 
the best voices of the camp. When the seren- 
ade was over. Captain Sterrett expressed the 
thanks of the ladies, asking, for them, if there 
were any service they might render in return. 
At once a shout went up: ''Let us hear a 
woman's voice." 

In response, Miss Jennie Cary came for- 
ward and, standing in the door of the tent, 
sang "Maryland, My Maryland." The en- 
thusiasm of the soldiers was unbounded. The 
refrain was caught up and carried by hun- 
dreds of voices, until, ' ' as the last note died 
away," wrote Miss Hettie Cary, years later, 
as the wife of Professor H. Newell Martin, 
"there surged from the throng a wild shout, 
'We will break her chains — she shall be free! 
Three cheers for Maryland ! ' There was not 
a dry eye in the tent, and, we were told the 
[68] 



Publication of "My Maryland" 

next day, not a cap with a rim on it in 
camp."* 

Miss Hettie Gary was afterwards described 
by Mrs. D. Girard Wright as the most beauti- 
ful woman she had ever met. ^'Her hair," 
wrote Mrs. Wright, ''was titian tinted; her 
complexion was lilies and roses ; and her fig- 
ure magnificent." In Baltimore she had 
been arrested and imprisoned at Fort 
McHenry for wearing Confederate colors, — 
in the form of a white apron with red rib- 
bons. This arrest was under the rule of Gen- 
eral B. F. Butler. On another occasion, how- 
ever, she stood at the open window of her 
home and waved a Confederate flag over the 
heads of some Federal troops. One of the 
officers asked the Colonel in command if he 
should have her arrested. The Colonel 
looked up and replied with marked emphasis : 

''No, she is beautiful enough to do as she 
pleases ! ' ' 



"Songs of the Civil War," The Century^ August, 1886. 

[69] 



The Women of the South in War Times 



THE LAND WHERE WE WERE DREAMING 

Fair were our nation's visions, and as grand 

As ever floated out of fancy-land; 
Children were we in simple faith, 
But god-like children, who nor death. 
Nor threat of danger drove from honor's path — 
In the land where we were dreaming! 



A figure came among us as we slept — 

At first he knelt, then sloAvly rose and wept; 

Then gathering up a thousand spears, 

He swept across the fields of Mars, 

Then bowed farewell, and walked behind the stars, 
From the land where we were dreaming! 



As wakes the soldier when the alarum calls — 
As wakes the mother when her infant falls — 
As starts the traveler when around 
His sleepy couch the fire-bells sound — 
So woke our nation with a single bound — 
In the land where we were dreaming! 

DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS 



70 



EXCERPTS FROM THE DIARY OF 

JUDITH BROCKENBROUGH 

McGUIRE 1861-1865 

In 1861, after all open expression of South- 
ern sentiment in the eastern half of Mary- 
land, had been checked by Federal power, 
the tide of Northern invasion crossed the 
Potomac and rolled past ''Mount Vernon" 
the former home of Washington, and 
''Arlington," the home of Robert E. Lee. 
It is fitting, therefore, that the second narra- 
tive of this volume be taken from the ' ' Diary 
of a Refugee" from Alexandria, which lies 
between the estates of Virginia's greatest 
sons. 

The diary opens on May 4, 1861 ; it closes 
May 4, 1865, with the news of the surrender 
of General Joseph E. Johnston's army at 
Greensboro, North Carolina. The writer was 
Mrs. Judith Brockenbrough McGuire, wife of 
Reverend John P. McGuire, Principal of the 
Episcopal High School, near Alexandria. 
Her story is the simple record of a courage- 
[71] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ous, self-sacrificing wife and mother who en- 
dured, privations without complaint, encour- 
aged Southern soldiers on the way to battle, 
and comforted the sick and wounded sent 
back to homes or to hospitals. 

May 4, 1861 ... I am too nervous, 
too wretched to-day to write in my diary, but 
that the employment will while away a few 
moments of this trying time. 
Preparations Q^j, friends and neighbors 
^a^ have left us. Everything is 

broken up. The Theological 
Seminary is closed; the High School dis- 
missed. Scarcely any one is left of the many 
families which surrounded us. The homes all 
look desolate ; and yet this beautiful country 
is looking more peaceful, more lovely than 
ever, as if to rebuke the tumult of passion 
and the fanaticism of man. We are left lonely 
indeed; our children are all gone — the girls 
to Clarke, where they may be safer, and 
farther from the exciting scenes which may 
too soon surround us ; and the boys, the dear, 
dear boys, to the camp to be drilled and pre- 
pared to meet any emergency. 

Can it be that our country is to be carried 
[72] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

on and on to the horrors of civil war 1 I pray, 
oh, how fervently do I pray, that our Heav- 
enly Father may yet avert it. I shut my eyes 
and hold my breath when the thought of what 
may come upon us obtrudes itself ; and yet I 
cannot believe it. It will, I know the breach 
will be healed without the effusion of blood. 
The taking of Sumter without bloodshed has 
somewhat soothed my fears, though I am told 
by those who are wiser than I, that men must 
fall on both sides by the score, by the hun- 
dred, and even by the thousand. But it is 
not my habit to look on the dark side, so I 
try hard to employ myself, and hope for the 
best. 

To-day our house seems so deserted, that 
I feel more sad than usual, for on this morn- 
ing we took leave of our whole household. 
Mr. McGuire and myself are now the sole 
occupants of the house, which usually teems 
with life. I go from room to room, looking at 
first one thing and then another, so full of 
sad associations. The closed piano, the locked 
bookcase, the nicely-arranged tables, the 
formally-placed chairs, ottomans and sofas in 
the parlor! Oh for some one to put them 
[73] 



TJie Women of the South in War Times 

out of order! And then the dinner-table, 
which has always been so well surrounded, 
so social, so cheerful, looked so cheerless to- 
day, as we seated ourselves one at the head, 
the other at the foot, with one friend, — but 
one — at the side. I could scarcely restrain my 
tears, and but for the presence of that one 
friend, I believe I should have cried outright. 
After dinner, I did not mean to do it, but I 
could not help going into the girls ' room, and 
then into C's. I heard my oa\ti footsteps so 
plainly, that I was startled by the absence of 
all other sounds. There the furniture looked 
so quiet, the beds so fixed and smooth, the 
wardrobes and bureau so tightly locked, and 
the whole so lifeless ! But the writing-desks, 
work-boxes, and the numberless things so 
familiar to my eyes! Wliere were they? I 
paused, to ask myself what it all meant. 
Why did we think it necessary to send off all 
that was so dear to us from our own home? 
I threw open the shutters, and the answer 
came at once, so mournfully! I heard dis- 
tinctly the drums beating in Washington. 
The evening was so still that I seemed to 
hear nothing else. 

[ ^"4 ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

May 10. — War seems inevitable, and while 
I am trying to employ the passing hour, a 
cloud still hangs over us and all that sur- 
rounds us. For a long time be- 

The Work of . . , * 

the Women *^^^ ^^^ society was SO com- 
pletely broken up, the ladies of 
Alexandria and all the surrounding country 
were busily employed sewing for our soldiers. 
Shirts, pants, jackets, and beds, of the heav- 
iest material, have been made by the most 
delicate fingers. All ages, all conditions, meet 
now on one common platform. We must all 
work for our country. Our soldiers must be 
equipped. Our parlor was the rendezvous for 
the neighborhood, and our sewing-machine 
was in requisition for weeks. Scissors and 
needles were plied by all. The daily scene 
was most animated. The fires of our enthu- 
siasm and patriotism were burning all the 
while to a degree which might have been con- 
suming, but that our tongues served as 
safety-valves. Oh, how we worked and talked 
and excited each other! One common senti- 
ment animated us all; no doubts, no fears 
were felt. We all have such entire reliance 
in the justice of our cause and the valor of 
[75] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

our men, and, above all, on the blessing of 
Heaven ! 

These meetings have neeessarily ceased 
with us, as so few of any age or degree re- 
main at home; but in Alexandria they are 
still kept up with great interest. We who are 
left here are trying to give the soldiers who 
are quartered in town comfort, by carrying 
them milk, butter, pies, cakes, etc. I went in 
yesterday to the barracks, with the carriage 
well filled with such things, and found many 
young friends quartered there. All are tak- 
ing up arms ; the first young men in the coun- 
try are the most zealous. Alexandria is do- 
ing her duty nobly ; so is Fairfax ; and so, I 
hope, is the whole South. 

We are very weak in resources, but strong 
in stout hearts, zeal for the cause, and enthu- 
siastic devotion to our beloved South; and 

while men are making a free- 
Fo^s°ight"^ will offering of their life's 

blood on the altar of their 
country, women must not be idle. We must 
do what we can for the comfort of our brave 
men. We must sew for them, knit for them, 
nurse the sick, keep up the faint-hearted, give 
[76] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

them a word of encouragement in season and 
out of season. There is much for us to do, 
and we must do it. The embattled hosts of 
the North will have the whole world from 
which to draw their supplies; but if, as it 
seems but too probable, our ports are block- 
aded, we shall indeed be dependent on our 
own exertions, and great must those exer- 
tions be.* 

The Confederate flag waves from several 
points in Alexandria; from the Marshall 
House, the Market-house and the several bar- 
racks. The peaceful, quiet old town looks 
quite warlike. I feel sometimes, when walk- 
ing on King's Street, meeting men in uni- 
form, passing companies of cavalry, hearing 
martial music, etc., that I must be in a dream. 
Oh that it were a dream, and that the last 
ten years of our country's history were 
blotted out ! Some of our old men are a lit- 
tle nervous, look doubtful, and talk of the 
impotency of the South. Oh, I feel utter 
scorn for such remarks. We must not admit 



*The "Sea Power of the North," as Charles Francis 
Adams has shown, was the force which was chiefly respon- 
sible for the overthrow of "King Cotton" and the Southern 
Confederacy. 

[77] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

weakness. Our soldiers do not think of weak- 
ness ; they know that their hearts are strong, 
and their hands well skilled in the use of the 
rifle. Our country boys have been brought 
up on horseback, and hunting has ever been 
their holiday sport. Then why shall they feel 
weak? Their hearts feel strong when they 
think of the justice of their cause. In that 
is our hope. 

Walked down this evening to see . 

The road looked lonely and deserted. Busy 
life has departed from our midst. We found 
„ Mrs. packing up val- 
uables. I have been doing the 
same; but after they are packed, where are 
they to be sent? Silver may be buried, but 
what is to be done with books, pictures, etc. ? 
We have determined, if we are obliged to go 
from home, to leave everything in the care 
of the servants.* They have promised to 
be faithful, and I believe they will be; but 
my hope becomes stronger and stronger that 
we may remain here, or may soon return if 
we go away. Everything is so sad around us ! 



*See page 194. The negroes were not called slaves and 
the older ones were given titles of respect and special honor. 

[7S] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

We went to the Chapel on Sunday as usual, 
but it was grievous to see the change — the 
organ mute, the organist gone; the seats of 

the students of both institutions empty; 

Tucker Conrad, one of the few students who 
is still here, raised the tunes; his voice 
seemed unusually sweet, because so sad. He 
was feebly supported by all who were not in 
tears. There was night service, but it rained 
and I was not sorry that I could not go.* 

May 15. — The first roses of the season are 
just appearing and the peonies are splendid ; 
but the horrors of war, with which we are so 

seriously threatened, prevent 
Secession" ^^^ enjoyment of anything. I 

feel so much for the Southern- 
ers of Maryland; I am afraid they are 
doomed to persecution, but it does seem so 
absurd in Maryland and Kentucky to talk of 
armed neutrality in the present state of the 
country! Let States, like individuals, be in- 
dependent — be something or nothing. I be- 



*Tucker Conrad was killed at Manassas, less than three 
months after he had thus "raised the tunes" at the service. 
This Seminary had recently graduated Phillips Brooks on 
the one side and Alfred Magill Randolph on the other, 
future Bishops of Massachusetts and Virginia. 

[79] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

lieve that the very best people of both States 
are with us, but are held back by stern neces- 
sity. Oh that they could burst the bonds 
that bind them and speak and act like free- 
men! The Lord reigneth; to Him only can 
we turn and humbly pray that he may see fit 
to say to the troubled waves, ''Peace, be 
still!-" 

May 16. — To-day I am alone. Mr. McGuire 
has gone to Richmond to the Convention, and 
so have the Bishop Johns and Dr. Stuart. 
I have promised to spend my nights with Mrs. 
Johns. All is quiet around us. Federal 
troops quartered in Baltimore. Poor Mary- 
land ! The North has its heel upon her, and 
how it grinds her ! I pray that we may have 
peaceful secession.* 

Fairfax Court House, May 25. — The day 



*In every part of the Union, from the foundation of the 
Federal Government in 1861, "peaceful secession" was dis- 
cussed as perhaps the best metliod of settling sectional dif- 
ferences. At one period, it would be heard in Massachu- 
setts; at another, in South Carolina or Georgia. In 1861, 
it was heard everywhere, yet the open advocacy of seces- 
sion was on every occasion accompanied by the thought of 
possible armed objection by some force, — generally that of 
a party or the section in control of the Federal Government. 

In Mrs. McGuire's diary, names are, as a rule, indicated 
by an initial only. The editor has taken the liberty of 

[801 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

of suspense is at an end. Alexandria and its 
environs, including, I greatly fear, our home, 

is in the hands of the enemy. 
Home^^''°"' Yesterday morning, at an 

early hour, as I was in my 
pantry, putting up refreshments for the bar- 
racks preparatory to a ride to Alexandria, 
the door was suddenly thrown open by a 
servant, looking wild with excitement, ex- 
claiming, *'0h, ma'am, do you know?" 
"Know what, Henry I" ''Alexandria is 
filled with Yankees." "Are you sure, 
Henry?" said I, trembling in every limb. 
' ' Sure, ma 'am ! I saw them myself. Before 
I got up I heard soldiers rushing by the door ; 
went out, and saw our men going to the cars." 
"Did they get off I" I asked, afraid to hear 
the answer. ' ' Oh, yes, the cars went off full 
of them, and some marched out; and then I 
went to King Street, and saw such crowds of 
Yankees coming in! They came down the 
turnpike, and some came down the river ; and 
presently I heard such noise and confusion. 



lining in these blanks in order to give the narrative greater 
interest and value. He gratefully acknowledges the as- 
sistance of the relatives of Mrs. McGuire, who made this 
course possible. 

[81] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

and they said they were fighting, so I came 
home as fast as I could." 

The question with us was, what was next 
to be done? Mr. McGuire had voted for se- 
cession, and there were Union people enough 
around us to communicate everything of the 
sort to the Federals ; the few neighbors who 
were left were preparing to be off, and we 
thought it most prudent to come off too. 
Pickets were already thrown out beyond 
Shuter's Hill, and they were threatening to 
arrest all secessionists. ... 

. . . AA^ien we got to Baily's Cross 

Roads, Mr. McGuire said to me that we were 

obliged to leave our home, and as far as we 

have a right to any other, it 

TI^•?/r^ »^ makes not the slightest differ- 

WiU Do . ° 

ence which road we take — ^we 
might as well drive to the right as to the left. 
It was a sorrowful thought ; but we have kind 
relations and friends whose doors are open to 
us, and we hope to get home again before 
very long. The South did not bring on the 
war, and I believe that God will provide for 
the homeless. 

About sunset we drove up to the door of 
[82] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

this, the house of our relative, the Rev. Mr. 
Brown, and were received with the warmest 
welcome. As we drove through the village we 
saw the carriage of Commodore Forrest, 
standing at the hotel door, and we were soon 
followed by the C's* of our neighborhood 
and many others. They told us that the 
Union men of the town were pointing out the 
houses of the Secessionists, and that some of 
them had already been taken by Federal of- 
ficers. When I think of all this, my heart 
quails within me. Our future is so dark and 
shadowy, so much may, nay must, happen be- 
fore we again become quiet, and get back, 
that I feel sad and dreary. 

This little village has two or three com- 
panies quartered in it. It seems thoroughly 
aroused from the quiescent state which it was 
wont to indulge. Drums are beating, colors 
flying, and ever and anon we are startled by 
the sound of a gun. At Fairfax Station there 
are a good many troops, a South Carolina 
regiment at Centreville, and quite an army is 
collecting at Manassas Station. We shall be 
greatly outnumbered, I know, but numbers 

*Casenoves. 

[83] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

cannot make np for the zeal and patriotism 
of our Southern men fighting for home and 
liberty. 

Chantilly, June 1. — We came here (the 
house of our friend Mrs. Stuart,) this morn- 
ing, after some hours of feverish excitement. 

About three o'clock in the 
The First • i , -t -, 

Q^gjj night we were aroused by a 

volley of musketry not far 
from our windows. Every human being in 
the house sprang up at once. We soon saw 
by the moonlight a body of cavalry moving 
up the street, and as they passed below our 
window (we were in the upper end of the vil- 
lage) we distinctly heard the commander's 
order, ' ' Halt ! ' ' They again proceeded a few 
paces, turned and approached slowly, and as 
though every horse were shod with velvet. In 
a few moments there was another volley, the 
firing rapid, and to my unpracticed ear there 
seemed a discharge of a thousand muskets. 
Then came the same body of cavalry rushing 
by in wild disorder. Oaths loud and deep 
were heard from the commander. They again 
formed, and rode quite rapidly into the vil- 
lage. Another volley, and another, then such 
[84] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

a rushing as I never witnessed. The cavalry- 
strained by, the commander calling out 
"Halt, halt!" with curses and imprecations. 
On, on they went, nor did they stop. While 
the balls were flying, I stood riveted to the 
window, unconscious of danger. When I was 
forced away, I took refuge in the front yard. 
Mrs. B. was there before me, and we wit- 
nessed the disorderly retreat of eighty-five of 
the Second United States Cavalry (regulars) 
before a much smaller body of our raw re- 
cruits. They had been sent from Arlington, 
we suppose to reconnoitre. They advanced 
on the village at full speed, into the cross- 
street by the hotel and courthouse, then 
wheeled to the right, down by the Episcopal 
church. We could only oppose them with the 
Warrenton Rifles, as for some reason the cav- 
alry could not be rendered effective. Colonel 
Ewell, who happened to be there, arranged 
the Rifles, and I think a few dismounted cav- 
alry, on either side of the street, behind the 
fence, so as to make it a kind of breastwork, 
whence they returned the enemy's fire most 
effectively. Then came the terrible suspense ; 
all was confusion on the street, and it was not 
[85] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

yet quite light. One of our gentlemen soon 
came in with the sad report that Captain 
Marr of the Warrenton Rifles, a young of- 
ficer of great promise, was found dead. The 
gallant Rifles were exulting in their success, 
until it was whispered that their captain was 
missing. Had he been captured? Too soon 
the uncertainty was ended, and their exultant 
shouts hushed. His body was found in the 
high grass — dead, quite dead. Two of our 
men received slight flesh wounds. The enemy 
carried off their dead and wounded. We cap- 
tured four men and three horses. Seven of 
their horses were left dead on the roadside. 
They also dropped a number of arms, which 
were picked up by our men. After having 
talked the matter over, we were getting quite 
composed, and thought we had nothing more 
to fear, when we observed them placing senti- 
nels on Mr. B.'s porch, saying that it was a 
high point, and another raid was expected. 
The gentlemen immediately ordered the car- 
riages, and in half an hour Mr. B.'s family 
and ourselves were on our way to this 
place. 

June 6. — Still at Chantilly. Everything 
[86] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

quiet, nothing particularly exciting; yet we 
are so restless. Mrs. Casenove and myself 
"A More ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ camp at Fairfax 

Important Court-House a day or two ago 

Revolution' ^^ ^^^ many friends; but my 

particular object was to see my nephew, W. B. 
Newton, first lieutenant in the Hanover troop. 
He looks well and cheerful, full of enthusiasm 
and zeal; but he feels that we have a great 
work before us, and that we have entered 
upon a more important revolution than our 
ancestors did in 1775. How my heart yearned 
over him, when I thought of his dear wife and 
children, and his sweet home, and how cheer- 
fully he had left all for the sake of his coun- 
try. His bright political prospects, his suc- 
cessful career at the bar, which for one so 
young was so remarkable, his future in every 
respect so full of hope and promise — all, all 
laid aside. But it is all right, and when he 
returns to enjoy his unfettered country, his 
hardships will be all forgotten, in joy for his 
country's triumphs. The number in camp 
there has greatly increased since we came 
away. We came home, and made havelocks 
and haversacks for the men. The camp at 
[87] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Harper's Ferry is said to be strong and 
strengthening. 

Mrs. Eobert E. Lee has been with ns for 
several days. She is on her way to the lower 
country, and feels that she has left Arlington 
for an indefinite period. They removed their 
valuables, silver, etc., but the furniture is left 
behind. I never saw her more cheerful, and 
she seems to have no doubt of our success. 
We are looking to her husband as our leader 
with implicit confidence ; for besides his great 
military abilities, he is a God-fearing man, 
and looks for help where alone it is to be 
found. Letters from Eichmond are very 
cheering. It is one great barracks. Troops 
are assembling there from every part of the 
Confederacy, all determined to do their duty. 
Ladies assemble daily, by hundreds, at the 
various churches, for the purpose of sewing 
for the soldiers. They are fitting out com- 
pany after company. The large stuccoed 
house at the corner of Clay and Twelfth 
streets, so long occupied by Dr. John Brock- 
enbrough, has been purchased as a residence 
for the President. I am glad that it has been 
thus appropriated. We expect to leave this 
[88] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

place in a day or two for Clarke County for 
the summer, and we part with this dear fam- 
ily with a sad feeling that they may soon have 
to leave it too. 

The Briars, June 12. — We are now in the 

beautiful Valley of Virginia, having left 

Chantilly on the 8th. The ride through the 

Piedmont country was delight- 

Clarife^County ^^^^5 it looked SO peaceful and 
calm that we almost forgot the 
din of war we had left behind us. The road 
through Loudoun and Fauquier was pic- 
turesque and beautiful. "We passed through 
the villages of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upper- 
ville. At Middleburg we stopped for an hour, 
and regaled ourselves on strawberries and 
cream at the house of our excellent brother, 
the Rev. Mr. K. At Upperville we spent the 
night. Early next morning we went on 
through the village of Paris, and then began 
to ascend the Blue Ridge, wound around the 
fine turnpike, paused a moment at the top to 
''view the landscape o'er," and then de- 
scended into the ''Valley." The wheat, 
which is almost ready for the reaper, is rich 
and luxuriant, foreshadowing an abundant 
[89] 



The W(y)nen of the South in War Times 

commissariat for onr army. After driving 
some miles over the delightful turnpike, we 
found ourselves at this door, receiving the 
warniliearted welcome of the kindest of rela- 
tives and the most pleasant hosts. Our daugh- 
ters were here before us, all well, and full of 
questions about "home." . . . 

Yesterday we went to Winchester to see 
my dear S.,* and found her house full of ref- 
ugees; my sister, Mrs. Colston, and her 
daughter Mrs. Leigh from Berkeley County. 
Mrs. C.'s sons are in the army; her eldest, 
having been educated at the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute, drilled a company of his own 
county men during tlie John Brown raid; he 
has now taken it to the field, and is its com- 
mander; and Mr. L. is in the army, with the 
rank of major. Of course the ladies of the 
family were active in fitting out the soldiers, 
and when an encampment was near them, they 
did everything in their power to contribute 
to the comfort of the soldiers; for which sins 
the Union people around them have thought 
proper to persecute them, until they were 
obliged to leave homo — ]\Irs. L. with two sick 

*Mrs. Sallv Smith. 

[ OO ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

children. Her house has been searched, fur- 
niture broken, and many depredations com- 
mitted since she left home; books thrown out 
of the windows during a rain; nothing es- 
caped their fury. 

Winchester is filled with hospitals, and the 
ladies are devoting their energies to nursing 
the soldiers. The sick from the camp at 

Harper's Ferry are brought 
"The Elite in ,, ^ >^ i- ^ 4- 

the Ranks" there. Our climate seems not 

to suit the men from the far 
South. I hope they will soon become ac- 
climated. It rejoices my heart to see how 
much everybody is willing to do for the poor 
fellows. The ladies there think no effort, 
however self-sacrificing, is too great to be 
made for the soldiers. Nice food for the sick 
is constantly being prepared by old and 
young. Those who are very sick are taken 
to the private houses, and the best chambers 
in town are occupied by them. The poorest 
private and the officer of high degree meet 
with the same treatment. The truth is, the 
elite of the land is in the ranks. I heard a 
young soldier say, a few nights ago, that his 
captain was perhaps the plainest man, so- 
[91] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

cially, in the company, but that he was an 
admirable officer. 

June 15. — Yesterday was set apart by the 

President as a day of prayer and fasting, and 

I trust that throughout the Confederacy the 

blessing of God was invoked 

Another Com- ^j^qj-^ i\^q army and country, 
parison with the x •' -z 

Spirit of 76 We went to church at Millwood, 
and heard Bishop Meade. His 
sermon was full of wisdom and love; he 
urged us to individual piety in all things, 
particularly to love and charity to our ene- 
mies. He is full of enthusiasm and zeal for 
our cause. His whole heart is in it, and from 
the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- 
eth, for he talks most delightfully and en- 
couragingly on the subject. He says that if 
our ancestors had good reason for taking up 
arms in 1775, surely we had much better, for 
the oppression they suffered from the mother- 
country was not a tithe of the provocation we 
have received from the Government at Wash- 
ington.* 



*Such a statement may sound strange to some of later 
times; but, on examination, our so-called standard his- 
tories do not, as a rule, reveal certain facts, even though 
the historians are rapidly overcoming the prejudices of the 

[92] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

June 18. — The day was passed delight- 
fully; the Bishop, his son, and daughter-in- 
law, all so kind, hospitable and agreeable. It 
amused me to see with what avidity the old 
gentleman watches the progress of events, 
particularly when I remember how much op- 
posed he was to secession only a few months 



past. As already referred to in the foreword, the taxation 
actually imposed for years upon the then loholly agricul- 
tural South by the commercial Northern majority was sev- 
eral times more oppressive than any scheme of taxation 
ever proposed by Great Britain prior to the Revolution. 
This sectional legislation was accompanied by efforts at 
interferences with the principle of local self-government, 
the basic issue of the American Revolution. 

In the very natural excitement of the War of Secession, 
such books as Kettell's "Southern Wealth and Northern 
Profits," published in New York in 1860, were cast aside 
or discredited. Unhappily, such statistical compilations 
are still forgotten. Again, such valuable postbellum con- 
tributions as Ingle's "Southern Sidelights," among the pub- 
lications of the Johns Hopkins University, are not made 
use of as they should be. 

It should be added, in regard to the foregoing references, 
that Bishop Meade was the son of Colonel Richard Kidder 
Meade, of George Washington's staff. The latter was 
affectionately known to Washington as "Friend Dick." 
Curiously enough, a descendant of this Meade, another 
Richard Kidder Meade, was with Major Anderson at Fort 
Sumter, and is said to have restrained Anderson from 
firing on the South Carolina batteries when these fired 
upon and turned back the United States Steamer "Star 
of the West," on January 9, 1861. Had Anderson returned 
this fire, the War of Secession might have started three 
months sooner, under President Buchanan instead of 
Lincoln. 

[93] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ago. He clung to the Union with a whole- 
souled love for all that he had been educated 
to revere, as long as he could do it ; but when 
every proposal for peace made by us was 
spurned, and when the President's proclama- 
tion came out, calling for 75,000 troops, and 
claiming Virginia's quota to assist in fighting 
her Southern brethren, he could stand it no 
longer, and I only hope that the revolution 
may be as thorough throughout the land as 
it is in his great mind. 

July 3. — A real fight has occurred near 
Williamsport, but on the Virginia side of the 
Potomac. General Cadwallader crossed the 
river with, it is said, 14,000 
"The Lord men, to attack our force of 

Have Mercy ^ qqq stationed there under 

upon Their ' 

Souls— -Pire!" Colonel Jackson. Colonel J. 
thought it folly to meet such 
an army with so small a force, and therefore 
ordered a retreat ; but quite a body of artil- 
lery remained to keep the enemy at bay. They 
retained with them but one gun, a six- 
pounder. The Rev. Dr. Pendleton, now cap- 
tain of artillery, commanded this gun, and 
whenever he ordered its discharge, he was 
[941 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

heard to say reverently, ''The Lord have 
merey upon their souls — fire!" The result 
was almost miraculous ; but four of our men 
were missing, two of whom were killed; 
twenty were wounded, and hav'e been brought 
to the Winchester hospitals; sixty-five pris- 
oners were taken and are now in Winchester. 
Many of their men were seen to fall. Our 
men, who did this deadly firing, retreated in 
perfect order. I heard this from one who 
was on the field at the time. It is said that in 
Dr. Pendleton the soldier and the chaplain 
are blended most harmoniously. A gentle- 
man who went to the camp to visit his sons, 
who belong to the ''Rockbridge Battery," 
told me that he arose before daylight, and 
was walking about the encampment, and when 
near a dense wood his attention was arrested 
by the voice of prayer; he found it was the 
sonorous voice of Dr. P., who was surrounded 
by his company, invoking for them and for 
the country, the blessing of Heaven. What a 
blessing it is for those young men, away from 
the influences of home, and exposed to the 
baneful associations of the camp, to have 
such ^ guide ! It has almost reconciled me to 
[95] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the clergy going upon the field as soldiers. 
The Bishop of Louisiana has been to Moun- 
tain View, to consult Bishop Meade on the 
subject of his taking the field. I do not know 
what advice was given. These reverend 
gentlemen, who were educated at West Point, 
are perfectly conscientious, and think it their 
duty to give their military knowledge to their 
country, and their presence may do much for 
the spiritual good of the army. 

July 4. — This day General Scott promised 
himself and his Northern friends to dine in 
Richmond. Poor old renegade, I trust he has 
eaten his last dinner in Richmond, the place 
of his marriage, the birthplace of his chil- 
dren, the home of his early friendships, and 
so near the place of his nativity and early 
years. 

How can he wish to enter Richmond but as 
a friend? But it is enough for us to know 
that he is disappointed in his amiable and 
patriotic wish to-day. So may it be. 

I have seen W. H., who has just returned 
from Fairfax. Last week he scouted near 
our house, and gives no very encouraging re- 
port for us. Our hills are being fortified, 
[96] 



Diary of Mrs. McOuire 

and Alexandria and the neighborhood have 

become one vast barracks. The large trees are 

being felled, and even houses 

Sad News i? it v -i £ j-i • 

from Home ^^^ falling by order of the in- 
vader! Our prospect of get- 
ting home becomes more and more dim; my 
heart sinks within me, and hope is almost 
gone. What shall we do, if the war continues 
until next winter, without a certain resting- 
place? Our friends are kind and hospitable, 
open-hearted and generous to a wonderful 
degree. In this house we are made to feel 
not only welcome, but that our society gives 
them heartfelt pleasure. Other friends, too, 
are most kind in giving invitations ''for the 
war" — "as long as we find it agreeable to 
stay," etc. ; but we must get some place, how- 
ever small and humble, to call home. Our 
friends here amuse themselves at my fears; 
but should the war continue, I do not think 
that they have any guarantee that they will 
not be surrounded by an unfriendly host. 
They think that they will not leave their 
homes under any circumstances ; perhaps not, 
because they are surrounded by so much 
property that they must protect ; but the sit- 
[97] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

uation will be very trying. Whenever I ex- 
press a feeling of despondency, Mr. McGuire 
meets it with the calm reply, that the ''Lord 
will provide, ' ' so that I am really ashamed to 
give place to fear. The situation of the people 
of Hampton is far worse than ours — their 
homes reduced to ashes ; their church in ruins. 
That venerable colonial church, in which for 
generations they have been baptized, received 
the Holy Communion, been married, and 
around which their dead now lie. 

July 18. — I have just returned from a small 

hospital which has recently been established 

in a meeting-house near us. The convalescent 

are sent down to recruit for 

An Incident of • t , ,■, • 

Hospital Life service, and to recover their 
strength in the country, and 
also to relieve the Winchester hospitals. The 
ladies of the neighborhood are doing all they 
can to make them comfortable. They are full 
of enthusiasm, and seem to be very cheerful, 
except when they speak of home. They are 
hundreds of miles from wife, children and 
friends. Will they ever see them again? 

I have been particularly interested in one 
who is just recovering from typhoid fever. 
[98] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

I said to him as I sat fanning him : * * Are you 
married?" 

His eyes filled with tears as he replied, 
* 'Not now ; I have been and my little children, 
away in Alabama, are always in my mind. At 
first I thought I could not leave the little 
motherless things, but then our boys were all 
coming, and mother said, ' Go, Jack, the coun- 
try must have men, and you must bear your 
part, and I will take care of the children ; ' and 
then I went and 'listed, and when I went back 
home for my things and saw my children, I 
'most died like. 'Mother,' says I, 'I am go- 
ing, and father must take my corn, my hogs, 
and everything else he likes, and keep my 
children; but if I never get back, I know it 
will be a mighty burden in your old age ; but 
I know you will do your best. ' 

** 'Jack,' says she, 'I will do a mother's 
part by them ; but you must not talk that way. 
Why should you get killed more than another? 
You will get back, and then we shall be so 
happy. God will take care of you, I know 
He will.'" 

He then tooK a wallet from under his pil- 
low, and took out two locks of hair : ' ' This is 
[99] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Peter's, lie is three years old; and this is 
Mary's, she is a little more than one, and 
named after her mother, and was just step- 
ping about when I left home. ' ' 

At that recollection, tears poured down his 
bronzed cheeks, and I could not restrain my 
own. I looked at the warm-hearted soldier, 
and felt that he was not the less brave for 
shedding tears at the recollection of his dead 
wife, his motherless children, and his brave 
old mother. I find that the best Avay to nurse 
them, when they are not too sick to bear it, 
is to talk to them of home. They then cease 
to feel to you as a stranger, and finding that 
you take interest in their ''short and simple 
annals, ' ' their natural reserve gives way, and 
they at once feel themselves among friends. 
It is delightful to be with Bishop Meade. 
There is so much genuine hospitality and 
kindness in his manner of entertaining, which 
we perhaps appreciate more 
Picture of a highly now than we ever did 
Household before. His simple, self-deny- 

ing habits are more conspicu- 
ous at home than anywhere else. We sit a 
great deal in his study, where he loves to en- 
[100] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

tertain his friends. Nothing can be more 
simple than its furniture and arrange- 
ments, but he gives you so cordial a welcome 
to it, and is so agreeable, that you forget that 
the chair on which you sit is not cushioned. 
He delights in walking over the grounds with 
his friends, and as you stop to admire a 
beautiful tree or shrub, he will give you the 
history of it. Many of them he brought with 
him from Europe; but whether native or 
foreign, each has its association. This he 
brought in his trunk when a mere scion, from 
the tidewater section of Virginia; that from 
the ''Eastern Shore" ; another from the Alle- 
gheny mountains ; another still, from the Cat- 
skill mountains. Here is the oak of old Eng- 
land; there the cedar of Lebanon; there the 
willow from St. Helena, raised from a slip 
which had absolutely waved over the grave of 
Napoleon. Here is another, and prettier wil- 
low, native of our own Virginia soil. Then he 
points out his eight varieties of Arbor Vitae, 
and the splendid yews, hemlocks, spruces, and 
firs of every kind, which have attained an im- 
mense size. Our own forest trees are by no 
means forgotten, and we find oaks, poplars, 
[101] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

elms, etc., without number. He tells me that 
he has more than a hundred varieties of trees 
in his yard. His flowers, too, are objects of 
great interest to him, particularly the old- 
fashioned damask rose. But his grape-vines 
are now his pets. He understands the cul- 
tivation of them perfectly, and I never saw 
them so luxuriant. It has been somewhat the 
fashion to call him stern, but I wish that those 
who call him so could see him among his chil- 
dren, grandchildren, and servants. Here he 
is indeed a patriarch. All are affectionately 
respectful, but none of them seem at all afraid 
of him. The grandchildren are never so 
happy as when in ''grandpapa's room;" and 
the little colored children frequently come to 
the porch, where he spends a great deal of 
his time, to inquire after "old master's 
health," and to receive bread and butter or 
fruit from his hands. 

Norwood, near Berryville, August 26. — My 
old friend, Mrs. Dickens, is sometimes in 
their lines, sometimes in ours. When our 
men are near her, they are fed from her table, 
and receive all manner of kindness from her 
hands. Some of my nephews have been in- 
[ 102 ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

vited to her table, and treated as her rela- 
tions. When they entered her house she 
advanced towards them with outstretched 
hands. ' * You don't know me, but I knew your 
mother, father, and all your relations; and 
besides I am connected with you, and you 
must come to my house while near me, as to 
that of an old friend." Nothing could be 
more grateful to a soldier far away from 
home and friends. 

At church yesterday ; the services interest- 
ing; the Communion administered. Rev. Dr. 
A. delivered an address, perhaps a little too 
political for the occasion. 



The "Dr. A." referred to here was Dr. 
Charles W. Andrews, a Northern-born clergy- 
man, brought up on politico-moral sermons. 
He married a near relative of Bishop Meade 
and made his home in Virginia. He was heart 
and soul for the Confederacy. The fact that 
he was an ardent emancipationist helps to re- 
fute the peculiar but popular idea that he and 
the whole Confederacy fought for the perpet- 
uation of slavery. Of this widely prevalent 
misconception, the great soldier-scholar, Basil 
[ 103 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

L. Grildersleeve, wrote in liis ''Creed of the 
Old South." 

' ' And if the secrets of all hearts could have 
been revealed, our enemies would have been 
astounded to see how many thousands and 
tens of thousands in the Southern States felt 
the crushing burden and the awful respon- 
sibility of the institution which we were sup- 
posed to be defending with the melodramatic 
fury of pirate kings. We were born to this 
social order, we had to do our duty in it ac- 
cording to our lights, and this duty was made 
infinitely more difficult by the interference 
of those who, as we thought, could not under- 
stand the conditions of the problem, and who 
did not have to bear the expense of the experi- 
ments they proposed." 



Mrs. McGuire's diary is continued for the second year 
of the war on page 155. 



[104] 



VI 

CARING FOR WOUNDED FOES 

''jl/TEDICAL Grove," near Blountville, 
Tennessee, was the first brick house 
built in Sullivan County. It was erected in 
1799 by Dr. Eikanah Dulaney of Culpeper 
County, Virginia, from bricks made on the 
place. Dr. Dulaney brought his bride out 
from Virginia with him and they spent their 
lives at ''Medical Grove," the place then 
passing to their son. Dr. William R. Dulaney, 
who married Mary Taylor, daughter of Gen- 
eral Nathaniel Taylor, a Brigadier General of 
the War of 1812. 

Dr. William R. Dulaney died in 1860, and, 
during the War between the States, the old 
home was occupied by Mrs. Dulaney and her 
daughters, her two sons being surgeons in the 
Confederate army, and the husbands of her 
daughters, then married, being also in the ser- 
vice. Before the War closed, seven officers 
had gone out from ''Medical Grove." 

To Evalina Dulaney, one of the elder 
( 105 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

daughters, fell much of the care of the place 
and the servants, which was no slight task in 
such troublous times, as the old house lay be- 
tween the lines of the opposing Union and 
Confederate forces, which fought back and 
forth across Tennessee, 

In the early autumn of 1863 it was known 
that a battle was impending and the family 
had been M'arned to secret the valuables and 
vacate the place, but no one realized that 
there was immediate danger. 

Evalina Dulaney was in the house hiding 
the silver and two younger sisters were in the 
garden burying their love letters (regarded 
as chief treasures), in a tin box. Some ser- 
vants were in the rear making apple butter. 
Suddenly the shells began whistling over the 
old home. Several shells fell in the flower 
garden and one lodged in the hay in the barn. 

It soon became apparent that the battery 
of Colonel James Carter, C. S. A,, who was 
stationed east of Blount ville, had become en- 
gaged with that of Colonel John W. Foster, 
U. S. A., whose gims were on the opposite 
side of the to^^^l, so that ''Medical Grove" 
was in direct line with the tiruig. 
[ 106 ] 



Caring for Wounded Foes 

Quickly realizing that it was not known 
that the house was still occupied, Evalina 
Dulaney fastened a sheet to a broom handle 
and waved it out of a dormer window at one 
end of the garret, and Mary Dulaney, leav- 
ing her love letters unburied, rushed through 
the backyard, seized the apple butter stirrer, 
and picking up a table cloth as she ran, she 
wrapped it around the end of the pole and 
waved her ''flag" also. 

Both commanders saw instantly that the 
house had not been abandoned as supposed, 
and Colonel Carter, who was an old friend 
of the family, changed the position of his guns 
and the firing went on. 

The frightened negroes, with the exception 
of old ''Uncle Bob," hid in the potato cellar 
until the firing ceased. "Uncle Bob" was on 
his knees behind the barn engaged in very 
earnest prayer until he had assured himself 
that the shell lodged in his neighborhood had 
failed to burst. 

The battle of Blountville, which was fought 
September 22, 1863, began at noon and lasted 
till four o'clock in the afternoon. The Con- 
federate forces numbered 1,257, while the 
[1071 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Federals had twice that number of men. The 
women and children had not been removed 
and their lives were in the greatest jeopardy. 
A shell from the Federal guns entered 
the courthouse, setting it on fire, and soon 
all the best part of the town was de- 
stroyed, the women and children fleeing for 
their lives through a storm of bullets and 
shells, while cavalrymen dashed across their 
path. 

Dr. Nathaniel T. Dulaney, a brother of 
Evalina Dulaney, and a surgeon in the Con- 
federate army, assisted the Federal surgeons 
in caring for the wounded in the temporary 
hospitals which had been fitted up in the In- 
stitute and the Methodist church. 

While the town was burning, Dr. Dulaney 
discovered that two sick Union soldiers, who 
had been abandoned by their officers, were in 
a building already on fire. He rescued them 
and sent them out to *' Medical Grove" in his 
own conveyance under the care of his colored 
servant. 

There was an old office out in the yard, un- 
der the catalpa trees, which had been used by 
the Dulaney physicians of three generations. 
[ 108 ] 



Caring for Wounded Foes 

This was hastily fitted up as a hospital; and 
for three weeks, Evalina Dulaney, assisted by 
her younger sisters, nursed the two soldiers, 
who, while they were the invaders of her 
country, were also human beings in great dis- 
tress who needed her aid. 

For a while, both rallied and gave promise 
of recovery, but the fire and shock of removal 
proved too much for their enfeebled condition 
and both died. 

One was a fair-haired young boy from Illi- 
nois, who seemed greatly to appreciate the 
kindness shown to him and not long before 
his death asked Evalina to pray with him, 
which she did, and then drawing a ring from 
his finger asked her to send it to his mother 
and write her that he had been tenderly cared 
for in his last hours. She wrote the letter and 
sent it, with the ring and a lock of his hair, 
to the address given, but no response ever 
came. 

After the death of these two men, and when 
the Confederate forces had withdrawn, a 
Union officer, with a pronounced German ac- 
cent, came by and threatened to burn ''Med- 
ical Grove ' ' because two of his men had died 
[109] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

there, saying that he knew that they had been 
poisoned or they would not have died. 

Evalina Dnlaney drew herself to her full 
height, looked him in the face and said: 
''You left them to perish miserably amid the 
flames of Blountville, and my brother rescued 
them. My sisters and I, by watching day and 
night, prolonged their lives a few weeks and 
they died with words of gratitude on their 
lips." 

"Medical Grove" was spared, and shortly 
afterward, within its old walls, Evalina 
Dulaney became the war bride of Captain 
Jonathan Waverly Bachman, C. S. A., a 
prisoner on parole after Vicksburg. Captain 
Bachman wore his Confederate uniform, and 
videttes were stationed around to prevent the 
ceremony being interrupted by unwelcome 
enemy visitations. 

His bride shared with him the vicissitudes 
of the rest of the war, and when peaceful days 
came, made her children little cloaks from the 
gray uniform and used his sabre ground down 
for a kitchen knife, (literally fulfilling Scrip- 
[1101 



Caring for Wounded Foes 

ture), and his old army blanket lay across the 
foot of the trundle bed.* 



*It is interesting to note that a grandson of this noble 
Southern girl, Evalina Dulaney, John Bachman Hyde, vol- 
unteered as a private in the World War of the Twentieth 
Century. As Lievitenant and special Adjutant to superior 
officers he served in the fierce fighting in the Argonne 
Forest. In the fall of 1918, he was assigned to duty with 
the famous unit that became known in the annals of tlae war 
as the Lost Battalion. Lieutenant Hyde was not among 
those surrounded by the Germans, but was one of those 
who fought their way to the rescue of the men so sur- 
rounded. 

North from Chattanooga, the home of Lieutenant Hyde, 
lies the "hill-country" home of Sergeant Alvin C. York, 
to whom Marshal Foch said: "What you did was the 
greatest thing accomplished by any soldier of any of the 
armies in Europe." 



[Ill] 



VII 

MRS. BETSY SULLIVAN, '^MOTHER TO 
FIRST TENNESSEE REGIMENT" 

r\N the first of May, 1861, the little town of 
Pulaski, Tennessee, afterwards famous 
as the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, sent 
forth a company of volunteers for Confed- 
erate service. One of the men was John 
Sullivan, and, when he went to the front, his 
wife, Mrs. Betsy Sullivan, accompanied him. 
The couple had no children, so Mrs. Sullivan 
determined not only to go to the war but also 
to ** mother" the entire company as well. 

From the time that she helped to nurse the 
first sick or wounded soldier to the surrender 
of the Confederate forces, this noble Irish 
woman was known as ''Mother Sullivan." 
There was nothing the men would not dare 
for her and for what her presence repre- 
sented to them — their wives, their ■ mothers, 
and their homes. In turn, Mrs. Sullivan held, 
in her long years of hardship with the army, 
that no trial was too severe, no sacrifice too 
[112] 



Mrs. Betsy Sullivan 

• great, if made on behalf of her *'boys.'* In 
1917, the story of Mrs. Sullivan's war experi- 
ences was set forth by Mrs. Grace Meredith 
Newbill in the following brief narrative: 

Tenderly and lovingly as a real mother, 
she ministered to the soldiers in sickness and 
closed their eyes in death. She mended and 
darned for them, cooked dainty food for the 
sick, and in many instances washed the 
clothes of the sick and wounded. Mrs. Sulli- 
van went with the First Regiment to West 
Virginia in General Lee's campaign against 
General Rosecrans, and thence to Northern 
Virginia when the regiment was under Stone- 
wall Jackson. She marched on foot with her 
knapsack on her back through the mountains 
of West Virginia, slept on the frozen ground, 
under the cold skies, a blanket her only cov- 
ering, — her knapsack, her pillow. 

In a slight skirmish at Cheat Mountain, 
West Virginia, one member of Company K 
was killed. Mrs. Sullivan brought the body 
of the dead soldier in a rude wagon to 
the nearest railway station, where it was pre- 
pared for burial, then on to his home in 
Pulaski, and gave into the hands of his loved 
[113] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ones their precious dead. When importuned 
to remain at home with friends, and receive 
the c^^e she so much needed, she replied, ' ' No, 
my boys need me, I must go to them. ' ' 

With sublime self-sacrifice, she shared 
every hardship endured by the men of the 
First Regiment. In return, the soldiers loved 
and reverenced her, treating her at all times 
with the same courtesy they would have 
shown their own mothers. No rude speech 
or improper word was ever uttered in her 
presence by her devoted ' ' boys. ' ' Only a few 
days ago I heard a Veteran of the First Ten- 
nessee affirm that not one single man in the 
entire regiment would have hesitated to spill 
the last drop of blood for ' * Mother Sullivan. ' ' 

Early in the spring of 1862, the First Regi- 
ment was ordered back to Tennessee. Mrs. 
Sullivan went with the regiment and, in 1862, 
was with her ''boys" on the battlefields of 
Shiloh and Corinth, Mississippi. Not in the 
rear, working in a hospital, but on the battle 
ground with her boys, carrying bandages and 
with canteens of water suspended from her 
shoulders, she bound up wounds and stanched 
the life blood of many soldiers, moistened the 
[114] 



Mrs. Betsy Sullivan 

lips of the dying, and closed the eyes of the 
dead. 

At Perryville, Kentucky, October, 1862, 
Mrs. Sullivan was on the battlefield, in one 
of the bloodiest and most hotly contested of 
any during the War. Here, her husband sus- 
tained a severe head wound and Lieutenant 
John H. Wooldridge of the same company 
suffered the loss of both eyes. When General 
Bragg retreated from Kentucky, these 
wounded men were left at Harrodsburg, and 
became prisoners. Mrs. Sullivan went with 
them to prison, where she continued to serve 
her husband and the other members of the 
company as long as she was able. 



[115] 



VIII 

THE CAPTURE AND IMPRISONMENT 
OF MRS. WILLIAM KIRBY 

T^HE preceding story of the life of 
''Mother" Snllivaii closes with her trip 
to prison to nurse her wounded husband. The 
story of Mrs. "William Kirby, an equally 
brave Irish woman of Louisiana, is a story 
of her o\\ii capture, imprisonment, and death. 

The particulars were secured by General 
John McGrath, President of the Historical 
Society of East and West Baton Rouge. Gen- 
eral McGrath wrote: 

For many years before the secession of 
Louisiana, there dwelt among us an Irish 
family composed of father, mother, and one 
son. William Kirby, husband and father, 
was a wheelwright by trade and as honest a 
man and as worthy a citizen as was to be 
found in the whole country. At the outbreak 
of the war, father and son, the latter a lad 
of tender age, joined the Confederate army 
of northern Virginia to die finally upon the 

[llD] 



Mrs. William Kirhy 

hillside at Gettysburg. From the day of the 
enlistment of her husband and son, the old 
lady devoted every hour of her life to the 
cause of the South. She begged and shamed 
young men slow to join the colors to do so ; 
she gathered clothing, medicine, and other 
supplies necessary to the welfare of the sol- 
diers and sent them through the lines; and, 
after the occupation of Baton Rouge by the 
Federals, she became one of the most success- 
ful ''blockade runners," supplying many a 
hospital with quinine, a rare article and a 
very necessary one to the sick.* 

Emboldened by success, the good and pa- 
triotic woman finally began taking out arms 
and ammunition, a most dangerous under- 
taking, as all roads leading from the city 
were closely watched by cavalry pickets and 
scouts. However, Mrs. Kirby, making her 
trips on foot, seldom traveled the public 
roads,. but instead took to fields and woods, 
until a safe distance beyond the enemy's lines, 
nor did she travel a great distance as she de- 
posited her contraband goods with one or an- 



*See narrative of Mrs. Duckett above for methoda of 
smuggling quinine and other medicines into the South. 

[117] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

other of the farmers nearby, all of whom 
were loyal to the Confederacy; or, at the 
point of delivery, army scouts would meet her 
and relieve her of her burden when she would 
return to town to prepare for another trip. 

After accomplishing the feat of evading or 
outwitting Federal authorities for a long 
time, she fell under suspicion and was finally 
detected. When arrested, she had just se- 
cured two cavalry rifles which she had placed 
under her top dress. The butts reached 
nearly to her arm pits, but she started out 
Main street to her home. The guns were long 
enough, however, to reach to the soles of her 
shoes, and at each step struck the brick pave- 
ment, with a loud metallic sound. Two sol- 
diers, evidently watching her movements, 
hearing the tap, tap, tap, halted her, and 
searching her person, discovered the hidden 
rifles. 

''What are you doing with these guns? 
What did you intend doing with them?" 
asked a soldier. 

Knowing full well no excuse she could of- 
fer would save her, the brave old woman re- 
plied: ''What do you suppose I was going 
[118] 



Mrs. William Kirhy 

to do with them? I intended to send them to 
the boys out yonder to shoot Yankees with ! ' ' 

Taken before a military tribunal, Mrs. 
Kirby was convicted as a spy and sentenced 
to serve during the continuance of the war in 
close confinement on Ship Island, where she 
was sent and closely guarded by negro sol- 
diers. To the credit of the; Federals, let it 
be said they never executed a female spy, 
although some were captured. The cruel 
punishment was left to the enlightened na- 
tions of Europe, as late events have proved. 
Male spies were executed by both Confed- 
erates and Federals, but women, never ! 

Closely confined, with poor and insufficient 
food, insulted and reviled by guards of a low 
order or class of men, and with the news of 
her son's death communicated to her, the 
heroic woman's health finally gave way and 
she was claimed by death about the time the 
war closed. Mr. Kirby lived some four or five 
years longer and then his brave spirit went 
forth to join the souls of his loved wife and 
son. 



[119] 



IX 

MRS. BETTIE TAYLOR PHILIPS, 

''MOTHER" OF THE ''ORPHAN 

BRIGADE" 

As a rule, the memorial inscriptions of Fed- 
eral cemeteries are taken from stanzas writ- 
ten by a "rebel" soldier-poet. These uses 
are unconscious but eloquent tributes to the 
natural genius of Southern expression. — 
''The Dixie Book of Days," for July 20. 

THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD 
Tlie muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 

Tlie brave and fallen few. 
On Fame's eternal camping-ground 

Tlieir silent tents are spread, 
But Glory guards, with solemn round, 

The bivouac of the dead. 

* « * 

Sons of the Dark and Bloody Groimd, 

Ye must not slumber there, 
Where stranger steps and tongues resound 

Along the heedless air. 
Your own proud land's heroic soil 

Shall be your fitter grave; 
She claims from War his richest spoil — 

The ashes of her brave. 

[ 120 ] 



Mother Philips 

Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone 

In deathless song shall tell, 
When many a vanquished age hath flovirn, 

The story how ye fell; 
Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight, 

Nor Time's remorseless doom. 
Shall dim one ray of glory's light 

That gilds your deathless tomb. 

— Theodore O'Haka* 



Individual deeds of daring and endurance 
by the women of the South may be given 
almost indefinitely. In the West some of the 
wives of the soldiers accompanied their hus- 
bands on the march and to the battlefield. 
This was noticeable in the case of those who 
had no children to care for at home. The 
story of ''Mother" Sullivan of Tennessee is 
duplicated by that of Bettie Taylor Philips 
of Kentucky. 

Those who knew Mrs. Philips in person 
prepared the story of her eventful ''army 
life." This was condensed by Mrs. Louise 
Winston Maxwell, of Paducah, whose narra- 
tive follows : 



*Theodore O'Hara was a son of Kentucky and these quo- 
tations are taken from his famous poem in memory of those 
who fell in the war with Mexico. 

[ 121 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Mrs. Philips was born in Morganfield, 
Kentucky, April 6, 1830. She was the daugh- 
ter of Mary Rives and Dr. Gibson Berry 
Taylor, both natives of Virginia. In 1847 she 
was married to W. D. Philips, who, at the 
very beginning of the war, entered the South- 
ern army. In the fall of 1861, Mrs. Philips 
joined her husband at Bowling Green, Ken- 
tucky, where he had received the appoint- 
ment of quartermaster to the Fourth Ken- 
tucky Regiment, Hanson's Brigade, Breck- 
inridge's Division. Later, after the death of 
the heroic Hanson, it was commanded by 
General Joe Lewis, and has come down to 
fame as the ''Orphan Brigade." 

Mrs. Philips, having no children, deter- 
mined to follow the fortunes of her husband 
through weal or woe. She remained at his 
side through all the stern vicissitudes of war, 
in camp, on long marches, often under shot 
and shell of the enemy, but ever at hand as 
an angel of mercy, ministering to the sick, 
wounded, and dying of her beloved brigade, 
each man of whom she seemed to love as if 
bound by ties of blood, and each, in return, 
giving her the affection and reverence due a 
[122] 



Mother Philips 

mother. At Shiloh, at Donelson, and many 
other hard-fought fields of the South, her 
slender form might have been seen bending 
over the cots of the wounded and dying, re- 
ceiving their last words, writing down their 
last messages, faintly whispered by dying 
lips — messages of love to the far-away dear 
ones at home. 

Then, after two years of the hardships in- 
cident to camp life, her health, which had 
never been robust, failed, but not the daunt- 
less spirit of this brave woman. She was ad- 
vised to rest; so she started from a point in 
Tennessee for her home in Kentucky. At 
Nashville, she was arrested, and two rough 
soldiers were commissioned to search her per- 
son for weapons and concealed papers. They 
told her their mission and started to execute 
the order. 

' ' Stop where you are ! ' ' she cried, and drew 
her pistol, ' ' I will never submit to the humil- 
iation of being searched by men. Send a 
woman to me. ' ' 

Awed by her courage, they retreated, and 
returned with a woman, who made the most 
rigid search of her person. She was then 
[123] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

sent to Louisville and tried as a spy; but, 
as there was no evidence to convict her, 
she was finally acquitted and sent back 
through the lines and left in a lonely forest in 
Tennessee. After wandering for many miles, 
this frail and delicate little woman reached a 
road and was mercifully taken up by a 
passing countryman in a wagon and con- 
veyed to the nearest railroad station. She 
soon reached the shelter of the camp, her 
home, and never was there any more joyful 
homecoming. Words fail me to describe the 
enthusiasm of the welcome that awaited her 
there. Every man in the command begged 
the honor of shaking her hand; the band 
played * ' Home Again, ' ' and strong men wept. 
At last, this sorely tried but dauntless little 
woman felt herself under the protecting care 
of the grand old '* Orphan Brigade," than 
whom braver men never fought or fell. With 
them Mrs. Philips remained until the end of 
the war. At the close of those four fateful 
years, she returned to her home in Uniontown, 
and devoted the few remaining years of her 
life to the cause of the South, and was in- 
strumental in erecting the soldiers' monu- 
[124] 



Mother Philips 

ment at Morganfield. She was ever ready 
with untiring energy to aid in every work for 
the betterment of the returned soldier, or in 
the vindication of the. cause she loved so well. 
I still have vivid memories of a day spent 
with this lovely woman, when Johnston's 
army, in retreat before Sherman's advancing 
forces, was encamped at Peach Tree creek, 
near Atlanta. A few other women and myself 
(accompanied by a courier furnished by my 
husband for protection), rode through the 
green, flower-scented Georgia woods from At- 
lanta to the camp, seven miles distant. It was 
an experience never to be forgotten, the sight 
of this war-worn, weary, half-starved, but 
still valiant army, scattered — many of them 
without tents — along the banks of this his- 
toric stream. Soon we were met by an orderly, 
who, bowing most courteously before us, said 
he had been sent by the commanding officer 
to escort us to the command we wished to 
visit. The announcement of our mission (to 
see Mrs. Philips) was all that was necessary, 
if anything had been needed among Southern 
soldiers, to insure us the most courteous and 
enthusiastic welcome. 

[125] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

That day spent, surrounded as we were by 
those battle-scarred veterans, and the warm 
welcome and good cheer furnished by Major 
and Mrs. Philips, will ever be among my most 
cherished memories of the war. This was the 
last time I ever saw Mrs. Philips and many 
of those brave heroes whose names have since 
come down to us in song and story. She was 
with President and Mrs. Davis in Georgia 
just before their capture when Mr. Davis 
divided his camp outfit among its occupants. 
To her fell his mess cup, a valued relic. 



[126] 



CAPTAIN SALLY TOMPKINS, C. S. A. 

In doing what thousands of Southern 
women did on behalf of the sick and wounded, 
one Virginia woman achieved success in a 
unique manner and received a commission 
in the Confederate army with the title of 
Captain. At the outbreak of the war, women 
in every station in life vied with one another 
in giving to their cause and country. If the 
individual were wealthy, she gave all she had, 
her services, and herself; if she were in 
humbler circumstances, the sacrifice was the 
same. 

After the first battle of Manassas it was 
found that the Confederate Government had 
not provided sufficient hospital accommoda- 
tions, and a call was made upon private in- 
dividuals. Miss Sally L. Tompkins volun- 
teered to help, and secured the use of Judge 
John Robertson's house on Main and Third 
Streets, Richmond. She immediately estab- 
lished a hospital there for sick and wounded 
[1271 



The Women of the South in War Times 

soldiers. In the course of time, the civil au- 
thorities regarded this as an irregular pro- 
ceeding, for other private hospitals had been 
placed under the direct supervision of the 
Confederate Government. Miss Tompkins, 
however, wanted to maintain her o^vn hos- 
pital and seriously objected to giving up what 
she had so carefully planned at her personal 
charge and expense. Moreover, as she had 
already earned the gratitude of so many sol- 
diers and their families, she was powerfully 
seconded in her struggle for local indepen- 
dence, — in what may be termed a feminine 
phase of State Rights! 

Since, therefore, Miss Tompkins, though 
small and frail, was determined to continue 
as superintendent of her private hospital; 
and, since in the ''Old South" it was un- 
heard of to use force to compel a lady to com- 
ply with the law, the civil and military powers 
finally hit upon the happy compromise of let- 
ting the lady have her o^^ti way! Accord- 
ingly, they granted Miss Tompkins a special 
commission in the Confederate army with 
the rank of Captain; so that as ''Captain'* 
Sally L. Tompkins, the superintendent of the 
[ 128 ] 





ROBERT E. LEE 

From an unusual photograph, copies of which were 
presented by General Lee to his intimate friends. It 
would seem, therefore, that General Lee preferred this 
likeness to any taken after the close of the war. A similar 
pose, with a more formal expression, has been widely 
published. 



Captain Sally Tompkins 

Robertson Hospital might give herself au- 
thority not only to go ahead with her work 
but to commandeer the services of others, 
together with what official medicines and 
supplies the Confederate Government could 
afford as her legal and proper apportion- 
ment. 

The Robertson residence was none too large 
or well adapted for hospital purposes. Never- 
theless, Captain Sally Tompkins was enabled 
to ease the suffering of over 1,300 sick and 
wounded soldiers from the date of the first 
battle of Manassas to the thirteenth of June, 
1865, when the hospital finally closed its 
doors. 

Miss Tompkins was once wealthy, as old- 
time fortunes were reckoned. When she died, 
over fifty years after Appomattox, she was 
the *' guest" ,of the Home for Confederate 
Women at Richmond. From a contemporary 
newspaper account of her death and the semi- 
military honors accorded her, the following 
is quoted: 

"She was more than eighty years of age, 
and she was shrunken and bent and piteously 
feeble; she died, too, in a Home for Needy 
[129] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Confederate Women. But to those who knew 
her history, she passed with fluttering ban- 
ner, still lifted high, all armored and pano- 
plied in bravery and beauty. So might a Joan 
of Arc have passed." 



[130] 



XI 

''THE FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE OF 
THE SOUTH" 

Who bade us go with smiling tears? 

Who scorned the renegade, 
Who, silencing their trembling fears. 

Watched, cheered, then wept and prayed? 
Who nursed our wounds with tender care, 

And then, when all was lost. 
Who lifted us from our despair 

And counted not the cost 
THE WOMEN OF THE SOUTH. 

— Albert Sidney Morton 



For many good reasons, the title given 
above has been most frequently bestowed 
upon Mrs. Ella K. Trader of Mississippi and 
Arkansas. Probably the title would not be 
questioned until the works of mercy and re- 
lief of Southern women everywhere be re- 
viewed. Then the wonder is why the title 
should be given to any one of a great number 
of women rather than another. 

Like ''Captain" Sally Tompkins, Mrs. 

Trader, who was Mrs. Newsome at the time 

of the War, had a comfortable fortune which 

she could devote to forwarding her work. 

[131] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

She sacrificed all for the "boys in grey'^; 
and, like Miss Tompkins, was reduced to real 
need in later life. Mrs. Trader's first hus- 
band, Dr. Frank Newsome, died before the 
war began, leaving her in charge of large 
property interests in the southwest. She was 
the daughter of Rev. T. S. N. King, and was 
born at Brandon, Mississippi. Her father 
Avas a Baptist minister of prominence and 
ability who, prior to the war, moved to 
Arkansas. 

When the war broke out, Mrs. Newsome 
was superintending the education of her 
. younger sisters, who were attending a school 
at Winchester, Tennessee. She immediately 
had her sisters sent to their home at Arkansas 
and volunteered her services in the cause of 
the Confederacy. At Memphis, she began 
the period of her consecration to the relief 
of suffering humanity. Having unusual 
executive ability, she went from the organiza- 
tion of the hospitals at Memphis to Bowling 
Grreen, Kentucky; to Nashville and Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee; to Corinth, Mississippi; 
and even as far east as Marietta and Atlanta, 
Georgia. 

[ 13-? ] 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

It seems, from an examination of the 
records, that although the hospitals in Vir- 
ginia and the Eastern States lacked sup- 
plies, delicacies, and, at times, even the plain- 
est food, those in the West lacked more, and 
severer suffering ensued. The western hos- 
pitals were farther removed from supply 
centres for surgical appliances and instru- 
ments. 

At Memphis, Mrs. Newsome heard stories 
of suffering at Bowling Green that defied de- 
scription in horror and sheer hopelessness. 
In December, 1861, this deter- 
Lack of Food mined woman set out for this 
and Medicines ^^^^^ ^^j^ ^.^j^ ^^^ ^^^^ Servants 
Throughout the 
South ^iid ^ car load of supplies. All 

was done at her own expense. 
She found a lack of everything that was 
needed for sick and wounded soldiers, from 
buildings, fuel, and blankets, to the most ordi- 
nary medicines and plain food. Here Mrs. 
Newsome labored from four o'clock in the 
morning until evening and often until twelve 
at night. She was given charge of all the hos- 
pitals and had obtained the best possible re- 
sults under the distressing conditions when 
[133] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the surrender of Forts Henry and Donelson 
compelled her to move to Nashville. 

The Confederates were soon forced to 
evacuate Nashville, and the problem of mov- 
ing the wounded fell upon Mrs. Newsome. 
These were ordered to Winchester, Tennes- 
see. The trip took several days and involved 
the most wearisome, and, for the badly 
wounded, often fatal delays. At Decherd, 
within a few miles of Winchester, the engineer 
detached the locomotive at ten o'clock at 
night, leaving the long train of helpless 
wounded stranded on the track. Ella New- 
some, however, could not allow the suffering 
of that terrible journey to continue, if by 
any sacrifice, it could be shortened. She her- 
self searched through the railroad yards until 
she had secured another engine, with which 
she brought her train to Winchester that 
night. 

In a few weeks, because of another Con- 
federate retreat, Mrs. Newsome was obliged 
to leave Winchester for Corinth, Mississippi. 
Here she looked after great numbers of 
wounded from the battlefields of Shiloh, 
where Albert Sidney Johnston's death in 
[ 134 ] 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

the moment of victory probably saved the 
military destiny of General U. S. Grant. 

A letter from Mrs. Newsome tells some- 
thing of the life and trials at Corinth: 

' ' The scenes in the Tishomingo Hotel Hos- 
pital after the battle of Shiloh beggar descrip- 
tion. Every yard of space on the floors, as 
well as all the beds, bunks, and cots were 
covered with the mangled forms of badly 
wounded soldiers. All had come from the bat- 
tle-fields several miles distant, many having 
been conveyed in rough wagons over muddy 
roads. 

''When they arrived at any of the hospital 
buildings, the first thing one of the women 
attendants had to do was to get some coffee 
and bread to revive the body a little so that 
the wounds could be dressed as soon as pos- 
sible. Next, was to find a hospital suit in 
order to rid them of the muddy and bloody 
clothes in which they had fallen. 

"I left the Tishomingo Hotel in charge of 
Mrs. Gilmore and Miss Cummings and took 
the Corinth House Hospital where there was 
not a corner in which a woman could lay her 
head for rest or sleep. I was forced to go to 
[135] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the private residence of a Mr. Inge which was 
at that time the Army headquarters. I was 
allowed to occupy, with my faithful servant, 
Carrie, a small room in which we put two 
cots and one or two boxes for seats. Every 
morning at daylight we went to the Hospital, 
remaining there until eleven or twelve every 
night that we did not stay all through the 
night to sit up with some poor fellow shot in 
the lungs and who had to be fanned every 
moment to enable him to breathe at all. 

Among this number I remember a soldier 
from the enemy's ranks who was a prisoner 
with many others. He was a splendid look- 
ing man with great brown eyes. 
w"*^*"rfr? "^^^ name was never given to 

Prisoner ^^^- ^ shall never forget the 

agony of that suffering counte- 
nance as he tossed his head from side to side 
to try to breathe. When he learned that we 
were about to leave on a retreat, he begged 
so hard to be taken along that I persuaded 
some of the nurses and soldiers to take up 
his bunk and carry it to the car platform 
and, if it were possible, I promised him he 
should be put on the train with our wounded. 
[ 136 ] 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

Carrie, my maid, walked beside the bunk fan- 
ning him every step of the way; yet we 
pleaded but vainly to have. him go with our 
wounded. The Yankees were then shelling 
the town and I had to tell him that his friends 
would soon take charge of him and see that 
he was well cared for. Carrie and I bade 
liim farewell, at the same time placing a fan 
in his hand; then we boarded the train — I 
never heard of or saw him again."* 

It was not Mrs. Newsome's fate to remain 
long in one place in her unselfish devotion to 
the cause of the stricken soldiers. She was 
forced to move from one point to another 
with each retirement of the Confederate 
armies in the west. The hospitals of Georgia 
occupied her best energies in 1864. In the 
fall of that year, vague reports from her 
father's home in distant Arkansas made her 
feel, almost intuitively, that she was needed 
there. She was urged not to go, as the jour- 

*One of the tragedies of history is that so many millions 
of Americans should have been taught false views of in- 
tentional cruelty to Federal prisoners of war. For refer- 
ences to the true state of affairs in the South, see especially 
the narrative of Airs. Duckett and Mrs. McGuire, also 
"Capture of a Virginia Lady," and the "sidelight" at close 
of that narrative. 

[ 137 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ney was declared impossible for a woman to 
undertake. For a while, she set aside her 
intention; but in February, 1865, she set out 
for Arkansas. The undertaking is best de- 
scribed in her own words : 

''LeaAdng my hospital and servants in 
charge of Miss Monroe, in February, 1865, 
having heard nothing from my dear old father 
and mother for two years except of their bad 
treatment at the hands of the rabble of both 
armies, I thought I would summon courage 
and strength to undertake a journey from 
Atlanta, Georgia, to Helena, Arkansas, where 
I had last heard of my family. 

"I had for a companion a Mrs. Buckley, 
whose husband was in the Southern army 
but whose relatives were in the North. She 
thought we could get through 
A Hazardous ^j^^, ^j^^j^^^^ j-^^^.^ j^^,.^^. Memphis 
Journey , . "^ 

trom her acquaintance with 
many of the Union officers there. We got 
along pretty well as far as Jackson, Missis- 
sippi, but from there the trip was perilous 
from the condition of the country and from 
the intense cold weather. Railroads had been 
destroyed, bridges burned, provisions con- 
[ 138 ] 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

sumed. We slept one night in a bare room 
in what was once a fine hotel in Jackson. In 
the morning we got a one-mule wagon and an 
old negro to take us half a day's journey 
when we found a bit of railroad track which 
had not been torn up. We paid the old fellow 
and entered the dilapidated car with joy, en- 
joyed a rough lunch and soon the car gave 
a jerk and a start. Alas, it was only for a 
mile or two. We came to a dead stop. The 
truck was frozen, the wheels would not turn. 
We sat there shivering until about sundown, 
when some men said that every one who was 
not afraid to walk a trestle and cross a river 
in a boat would find lodging just across the 
river and perhaps something to eat. Mrs. 
Buckley and myself took up our handbags 
and risked the trip, feeling it was death to 
stay where we were, as Federal scouts were 
going through the country. 

''We got safely over the bridge and to the 
bank of a cold, almost frozen-over river. We 
yelled and yelled and yelled for the ferry- 
man. It seemed hours before he came. Our 
hands were nearly frozen. The same boat- 
man had to pilot us to the house of a Mr. 
[139] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Barboo. Tlio groiiml was like rocky clods 
frozen so hard it took us an hour to roach 
the dwolliiig. A big, oUl-t'ashiouod roaring 
firo Avas shining through the windows. A 
hidy puHod us in cordially, but we could not 
speak tor pain in our liauds and feet. She 
hastily led us io a bowl o( water and plunged 
our hands into it. After a few moments \ve 
began to reciner. \\'e partook of a frugal 
meal for supper. The good-hearted people 
said we had to rest under their roof for many 
days and then they would devise some way to 
get us on to Memphis. 

**I think we were 18 to '20 miles from that 
city, with Oeneial Forrest's command be- 
tween. When we did leave the Barbees' it 
was in a four-nmU^ open wagon. About noon 
we came up with some of Forrest's scouts. 
Upon learning' who we were and our determi- 
nation to reach the city, tliey ordered an am- 
buhuice to come for us. So we sent our nmle 
team and wagon back. The ride was so rough 
wo had to stand up and hold to the Avagon 
body all the Avay. 

•'When we got to Memphis the 'blue coats* 
began to appear. After much parh^ying they 
\\40] 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

did let us in; but when I reached the home 
of an old friend, I was hardly greeted before 
I was told I must not stay in the city that 
night but go outside five or six miles. My 
friend said he would secure a pass and send 
it to me, so I got on a train and went to 
Buntin's Station. I waited there two days 
for that pass, but it finally came and also 
permission to go down the river to Helena, 
Arkansas. 

'■ ' My companion, Mrs. Buckley, did not take 
the precaution to go out of the city the night 
we arrived and stay until she got a pass. 
She was, accordingly, arrested, sent to Fort- 
ress Monroe, and was there or somewhere 
until the war closed. 

"I got to Helena safely; but oh, the whole 
place and country seemed alive with the ' blue 
coats.' My wits, my courage, my good looks 
all failed me. I was taken into the Provost 's 
office, requested to take the oath, which I 
would not do, threatening to make the matter 
known to the Commander at Memphis. My 
home where I expected to find my family was 
in the country. When, after a day or so, I 
got there, I found everything in a delapidated 
[141] 



Tiie ]Vo)neH of the SoutJi in War Times 

condition and that my father and mother 
had moved to Pine Bhitt", some 150 miles 
further on. 

"A brother, who Avas not allowed to go into 
the army owing to imperfect vision, and who 
was in charge of my property, what little 
there was left, said if I conld ride a mule on a 
man's saddle for 150 miles through black mud 
swamps and over prairies he would go with 
me and my sister to see my father and mother. 
After a search among the neighbors we ob- 
tained an oKl brolvcn-down war-horse, a pony, 
and the mule, ^iy brother rode the mule. 
Wo started on that lonely, lonely trip, carry- 
ing some coffee and sugar to the dear old 
people. It took us many days to make tliQ 
trip. 

*'After a journey which was perilous in- 
deed, on account of the swimming of bayous 
and rivers and the going through dense for- 
ests and swamps where might be in hiding 
'Kebol' guerrillas and Yankee bushwhackers 
or jayhawkers, we came in sight of the King 
place : could see the tops of the trees and hear 
the bark of the watch dog. But the home 
was located on a umddv bayou, and between 
[UJJ 



Mrs. Ella K. Trader 

us and the house there was a deep, sluggish 
stream which seemed to have no crossing and 
yet looked deep and dangerous. 

'' 'It is getting twilight,' my brother said, 
'Sister, what shall we do. Shall we risk 
sticking to our horses and swimming across?' 

''While we were debating the question I 
rode around among the trees, immense cy- 
press monsters of that swampy country. I 
saw something white clinging to one. I pulled 
it down and found it to be a notice in my 
father's clear, bold hand: 'Anyone coming 
to the banks of this bayou will find a large 
log across. Horses can be gotten over by 
swimming them by the side of the log.' 

"We looked at each other with tears flow- 
ing down our cheeks. I said: 'Is that not 
just like father, always planning for the good 
and comfort of the public and having no 
thought that the first to find that notice would 
be his long absent children whom he had not 
heard from in three years?' 

"We crossed over safe, went splashing 

along ankle deep in water almost to the door. 

My parents and two sisters were in the home ; 

men, black and white, were in the army or 

[143] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

away from home. My father came trembling 
down to the gate. His astonishment was so 
great he was speechless. He waved back to 
mother. Soon we were all taken bodily down 
from our horses and held in the arms of first 
one, then the other amid tears and shouts of 
delight and surprise. All the colored people 
from the field ; everything and everybody was 
surrounding us. " 

It should be added to this brief narrative 
from the eventful life of Mrs. Trader- that 
not only courage, determination, and endur- 
ance, but fighting blood also was in the veins 
of the King sisters. When the Reverend Mr. 
King was brutally shot by stragglers near 
Pine Bluff, the men who did the dastardly 
deed were pursued by his daughter Josie for 
a distance of thirty miles. She then reported 
the outrage to General Steele, who had the 
men arrested and punished for their crime. 



[1^] 



XII 

A NIGHT ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE 

IVTEAR Winchester, Virginia, on the after- 
noon of July 20,* 1864, a Confederate 
force under General Ramseur was defeated 
by Federal troops under General Averell. 
The Confederates were compelled to beat a 
rapid retreat and left their dead and wounded 
on the battlefield. 

As night came on, a number of women of 
Winchester arrived on the scene to give aid 
and comfort to the wounded. Among the 
young girls who had thus volunteered was 
Miss Tillie Russell. In passing among the 
dead and wounded, visible by the light of the 
moon and the lanterns of the Federal sur- 
geons, Miss Russell came upon a youth suffer- 
ing the greatest agony. He was Randolph 
Ridgely of Maryland, although she then knew 
only that he was a Confederate soldier. His 
clothing was soaked in the blood from his 



*The day after the burning of "Fountain Rock" and "Bed- 
ford" some thirty miles distant from the scenes of this 
narrative. See pp. 196-204. 

[145] 



The Wo7nen of the South in War Times 

wound, which, some time before, had been 
hastily dressed by the Federal surgeon. Miss 
Russell raised Ridgely's head to give him, if 
possible, some ease, whereupon the wounded 
man gave a sigh of relief and his head sank 
back into her arms as she sat down beside him. 
Almost at once, his low moans gave place to 
regTilar breathing as he fell into a sleep of 
exhaustion. 

After some time. Miss Russell found herself 
and her charge alone on that portion of the 
field among the dead and woimded. She at- 
tempted to change the position of the 
wounded man and free herself from a severely 
cramped position, which, all the while, grew 
more and more painful. "Whenever she at- 
tempted to move, however, the soldier moaned 
and awoke. The Federal surgeon who had 
dressed young Ridgely's wound came by and 
told her that the case was critical, but that 
if the wounded man could sleep until morn- 
ing, he might live. On the other hand, his 
fever was at its most dangerous point, and if 
his sleep were broken, he Avould die. Then 
and there, regardless of her o\^^l sutfering, 
Tillie Russell resolved to make no further 
[146] 



A Night On the Field of Battle 

effort to lay Ridgely's head on the grass, but 
would support his head until his life should 
be assured by the rest he needed. 

Hour after hour went slowly by. The moon 
passed through the heavens, and there was 
no sound on the battleground except that of 
a fitful breeze in the nearby woods. The girl 
was suffering agony, but she never faltered! 
and, at the first touch of dawn, she saw the 
soldier awake with a faint smile on his lips. 
Forgetful of self, her feeling was one of 
thankfulness that she had saved the life of a 
Confederate soldier. 

Miss Russell was made seriously ill by her 
experience, and she could not lift her hand 
for some days. The story of her deed was 
eagerly sought for publication but she re- 
fused permission to have her name used in 
connection with it. Artists visited the scene 
and portrayed the incident with brush and 
pencil. One of these pictures, by Oregon 
Wilson, is entitled "Woman's Devotion." It 
should always be associated with the memory 
of one of the most unselfish and self-sacrific- 
ing deeds of endurance during the War be- 
tween the States. 

r 147 1 



XIII 

THE RIDE OF ROBERTA POLLOCK 

COUTHERN women, like the men, were 
skilled in riding horses. During the War 
between the States, it was natural that they 
should turn this accomplishment to good pur- 
pose and sometimes to daring adventure. No 
Southern State lacks its special heroine, and 
some States offer several. There were rides 
made during the Revolution, such as the 
famous one of Paul Revere, and the less 
known rides of William Dawes, of Massa- 
chusetts, together with those of John Jouett, 
of Virginia; and Tench Tilghman, of Mary- 
land. In the very nature of the case, how- 
ever, a ride undertaken by a woman in time 
of war and in an invaded country, involves 
special dangers and endurance calling for 
the highest type of courage and devotion.* 



*William Dawes, setting out at the same time from 
Boston, completed the ride of warning to Hancock and 
Adams. Revere did not finish his ride because of his 
capture by the British. Jouett's ride, later in the war, 
saved Tliomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and the Virginia 
Legislature. Tench Tilghman's ride was the longest; and, 

[148] 



Ride of Roberta Pollock 

At Warrington, Virginia, December 22, 
1864, dawned bitterly cold. Both Federals 
and Confederates were thinking of Christmas 
cheer. On the one hand, the Unionists could 
count on a far greater supply of good things 
in their commissary department; but on the 
other, many of the Confederates in that 
neighborhood were Mosby's men, and they, 
at least, had the sentimental advantage of 
being near home and family. 

On the outskirts of Warrenton lived the 
Eeverend Dr. Abram David Pollock, by birth 
a Pennsylvanian, but a Virginian by adop- 
tion. The elder of his two sons had fallen at 
Gettysburg in the famous charge under Petti- 
grew and Pickett. On this December 22nd, 
his youngest daughter Roberta walked into 
town and was promptly informed by one of 
her friends that the latter had just seen a 
negro who had gone with some Federal sol- 
diers to the provost marshal's office. 

Roberta Pollock immediately concluded 
that the negro had information in regard to 



it may be said to have closed the Revolution, as the rides 
of Dawes and Revere began it. Dawes, Jouett, and 
Tilghman are rarely mentioned by historians. 

[149] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the movements of Mosby's men. She then 
approached the sentinel before the office and 
on pretense of wishing to conduct some busi- 
ness with the negroes there, bribed him to 
let her enter the building. Once inside, Miss 
Pollock avoided the room where the negroes 
were and entered an adjoining one. It was 
empty, damp, and dark, and it was under 
the provost marshal's office, where she could 
hear what was said. To the great delight of 
the Federal officers, the negro was telling 
them how and when they could capture some 
of Mosby's men and a large supply of corn. 
Accordingly, a ''raid" was planned for that 
night or the next one, with the negro as a 
guide. 

Miss Pollock had heard enough. She left 
the building, walked through Warrenton to a 
picket post, and, with what remained of her 
funds, succeeded in persuading the Union sol- 
dier to let her pass through the lines. Two 
miles more of walking and she came to the 
house of a friend, from whom she was able to 
borrow a horse. 

It was late in the afternoon of the shortest 
winter day. The cold had steadily increased, 
[1501 



Ride of Roberta Pollock 

a high wind was blowing, and the sky was 
covered with rapidly moving masses of black 
clouds. The girl's friends wrapped her up 
as best they could and she rode to a neigh- 
bor's house, three miles away. Here, she 
took behind her a small boy for escort, and 
set out in the general direction of "Confed- 
erate scout country" to find and warn whom 
she could. For two hours she rode appar- 
ently onward when she suddenly found her- 
self near the ''View Tree," which was but 
four miles from Warrenton, although she 
had ridden twice that distance. At this point, 
the moon appeared; and, at the same time, 
her small escort called her attention to the 
figures of a number of men on the right of 
the road, who were advancing in the form of 
a V with carbines pointed. She did not, how- 
ever, change her pace, the moon went under, 
and she passed on in the shelter of the dark- 
ness. That they did not fire appeared almost 
a miracle — a mystery which was to be ex- 
plained on the following day. She set her 
horse's head again in the right direction, but 
whether the shrewd old animal she had bor- 
rowed was deliberately taking advantage of 
[151] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

her or not, she found herself, a half hour 
later, even nearer to Warrenton than before, 
on a different route. 

The temptation to give up was indeed great. 
She ached terribly from the cold; and, al- 
though her young escort did not complain, 
even offering to lend her his overcoat, she 
knew that he too must be suffering. She could 
not, however, fail, even if that night she per- 
ished for her country. The following verses 
occurred to her to uphold her courage : 

"God shall charge his angel legions 
Watch and ward o'er thee to keep, 
Tho' thou walk thro' hostile regions, 
Tho' in desert wilds thou sleep." 

The remembrance of these lines seemed to 
point the way to success. Once more turning 
her back to the few dim lights of Warrenton, 
she rode on. In the next few hundred yards, 
however, she came across a horse and its dis- 
mounted rider. The picket seized the bridle 
of ''Kitty Grey" and said firmly: 

''Stop, lady, you can go no farther. 
Where were you going?" 

"I was trying to go to the neighborhood of 
Salem to see a sick friend," replied the girl. 
' ' It was later than I thought when I set out. 
[152] 



Ride of Roberta Pollock 

My poor old borrowed horse traveled very 
slowly; night overtook me suddenly and I 
have lost my way. ' ' 

*'It is my painful duty to take you to the 
reserves, where you will be detained all 
night, and then to headquarters in the morn- 
ing. ' ' 

''You can shoot me on this spot, but I will 
not spend the night unprotected among your 
soldiers. I cannot consent that you perform 
your duty," replied Miss Pollock. 

*'Nor am I willing to perform it," the kind- 
hearted "Yankee" soldier exclaimed; and, 
after a pause, he said: ''Go to that house 
where you see the light; no one will be so 
cruel as to turn you away on such a night. ' ' 
Leading her horse into the right path, he 
added: "Good-bye, I shall be three hours 
on picket duty to think of a freezing lady. ' ' 

On reaching the house, the visitors were, 
not without some suspicion, given lodging for 
the night, but Roberta Pollock, chilled to the 
bone, lay and shivered and wept throughout 
the night. She was compelled to bide her 
time for the warning. Perhaps, she thought, 
she might be too late. 

The next morning six Federal soldiers rode 
[153] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

up. She greatly feared arrest and went down 
to meet them ; but, to her great surprise, their 
leader said to her: 

*'We had an alarm last night.'* 

''How was that?" 

''Why the rebels wanted to attack our men 
and thought to fool us by sending one of them 
on ahead as if he were alone. They thought 
we 'd all fire on him and not be ready for the 
rest of them as they came up; but we were 
too sharp for them. We did not fire, and the 
rascals were afraid to try it." 

This information was very interesting to 
Miss Pollock, and she also learned from them 
that no raiding party had been sent out that' 
night to catch the '* rebels." 

During the day, by skillful manoeuvering 
through the woods. Miss Pollock delivered her 
warning to some of the Confederates, who 
spread the news as rapidly as possible. By 
sundown, the brave girl was at home and 
saw, with no little secret pleasure, great 
preparations in the camp for the raid which 
was planned that night to capture Mosby and 
most of his men. 

[154] 



XIV 

THE DIARY OF MRS. JUDITH BROCK- 
ENBROUGH McGUIRE— 1862-1863* 

*'It is remarkable that the best loved mel- 
ody in the South and the one instantly and 
always associated with that section was given 
to the South, in words and music, by a 
'Yankee' minstrel, although he was of Mary- 
land and Virginia ancestry. 'Dixie's Land' 
was the production of Dan Emmett of Ohio. 
But Emmett 's words, never more than min- 
strel nonsense, were, in addition, a poor imita- 
tion of negro dialect. Hence, throughout the 
country, there arose a strong desire to use 
Emmett 's melody in connection with verses 
of some degree of dignity indicative of the 
sentiment and ideals of the South. This de- 
mand is probably best met in the lines of 
'Dixie Land' as written by the Reverend 
M. B. Wharton." — From Foreword Echoes 
from Dixie, or Old-time Southern Songs. 



^Continued from page 104. 

[155] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

"DIXIE LAND" 

Oh! Dixie Land is the land of Glory, 
The land of cherished song and story, 

Look away. Look away, Look away, Dixie Land, 
'Tis the land patriots love to dwell in. 
The land our fathers fought and fell in. 

Look away, Look away. Look away, Dixie Land. 

Chokus : 

I'm glad I live in Dixie, 
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! 

In Dixie Land 

I'll take my stand 
To live and die in Dixie. 
Away, Away, Away down South in Dixie, 
Away, Away, Away down South in Dixie. 

The Blue and Gray went out to battle. 
Loud they made war's thunder rattle. 

Look away. Look away, Look away, Dixie Land, 
The fight we lost, but won a glory 
Which will last till time is hoary. 

Look away, Look away, Look away, Dixie Land. 

Chorus, Etc. 

Still Dixie Land is the land of freemen. 
Of soldiers brave and gallant seamen. 

Look away. Look away, Look away, Dixie Land, 
The land where rules the Anglo-Saxon, 
The land of Davis, Lee, and Jackson, 

Look away, Look away. Look away, Dixie Land. 

Chorus, Etc. 

And Dixie's Sons will stand together, 
In sunshine and in stormy weather. 

Look away. Look away. Look away, Dixie Land, 
Tho' lightnings flash, and mountains sever. 
Count on the gallant South forever, 

Look away, Look away, Look away, Dixie Land. 

Chorus, Etc. 
[156] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

March 7 [1862]. — Just returned from the 
hospital. Several severe cases of typhoid 
fever require constant attention. Our little 
Alabamian seems better, but so 
SoTdSf '° *^^ weak! I left them for a few 
moments to go to see Bishop 
Meade; he sent for me to his room. I was 
glad to see him looking better, and quite 
cheerful. Bishops Wilmer and Elliott came 
in, and my visit was very pleasant. Some of 
them are very fond of hearing the Bible read ; 
and I am yet to see the first soldier who has 
not received with apparent interest any 
proposition of being read to from the Bible. 

To-day, while reading, an elderly man of 
strong, intelligent face sat on the side of the 
bed, listening with interest. I read of the 
wars of the Israelites and Philistines. 

He presently said, ''I know why you read 
that chapter; it is to encourage us, because 
the Yankee armies are so much bigger than 
ours; do you believe that God will help us 
because we are weak?" 

' ' No ", said I, ' ' but I believe that if we pray 
in faith, as the Israelites did, that God will 
hear us." 

[157] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

''Yes," he replied, "but the Philistines 
didn't pray, and the Yankees do; and though 
I can't bear the Yankees, I believe some of 
them are Christians, and pray as hard as we 
do (''Monstrous few of 'em!" grunted out a 
man lying near him) ; and if ive pray for one 
thing, and they pray for another, I don't 
know what to think of our prayers clash- 
ing!" 

"Well, but what do you think of the justice 
of our cause? Don't you believe that God 
will hear us for the justice of our cause % ' ' 

"Our cause," he exclaimed. "Yes, it is 
just; God knows it is just. I never thought 
of looking at it that way before, and I was 
mighty uneasy about the Yankee prayers. 
I am mightily obleeged to you for telling 
me." 

"Where are you from?" I asked. 

"From Georgia." 

"Are you not over forty-five?" 

"Oh, yes, I am turned of fifty, but you see 
I am monstrous strong and well ; nobody can 
beat me with a rifle, and my four boys were 
a-coming. My wife is dead, and my girls are 
married; and so I rented out my land and 
[158] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

came too ; the country hasn't got men enough, 
and we musn't stand back on account of age 
if we are hearty." 

He reminds me of having met a very plain 
looking woman in a store the other day. She 
was buying Confederate gray cloth, at what 

seemed a high price. 
"They Shan't I asked her why she did not 

Get to Rich- apply to the quartermaster. 

Heroine in ^^^^ S^^ i^ cheaper. 

Homespun ''Well," she replied, "I 

knoius all about that, for my 
three sons is in the army; they gets their 
clothes thar; but you see this is for my old 
man, and I don't think it would be fair to 
get his clothes from thar, because he ain't 
never done nothing for the country as yet — 
he's just givine in the army." 

' ' Is he not very old to go into the army ? ' ' 
''Well, he's fifty-four years old, but he's 
well and hearty like, and ought to do some- 
thing for his country. So he says to me, says 
he, 'The country wants men; I wonder if I 
could stand marching; I've a great mind to 
try.' Says I, 'Old man, I don't think you 
could, you would break down; but I tell you 
[159] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

what you can do — yoii can drive a wagon in 
the place of a young man that 's driving, and 
the young man can fight. ' Says he, ' So I will ' 
— and he's gwine just as soon as I gets these 
clothes ready and that won't be long." 

*'But won't you be very uneasy about 
him?" said I. 

''Yes, indeed; but you know he ought to go 
— them wretches must be drove away. ' ' 

''Did you want your sons to go?" 

"Want 'em to go!" she exclaimed; "Yes; 
if they hadn't agone, they shouldn't a-staid 
whar I was. But they wanted to go, my sons 
did." 

Two days ago, I met her again in a baker's 
shop; she was filling her basket with cakes 
and pies. 

' ' Well, ' ' said I, ' ' has your husband gone ? ' ' 

"No, but he's agwine to-morrow, and I'm 
getting something for him now. ' ' 

"Don't you feel sorry as the time ap- 
proaches for him to go?" 

"Oh, yes, I shall miss him mightily; but I 

ain't cried about it; I never shed a tear for 

the old man, nor for the boys neither, and I 

ain't g'wine to. Them Yankees must not come 

[ 160 1 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

a-nigh to Richmond ; if they does I will fight 
them myself. The women must fight, for they 
shan't cross Mayo's Bridge; they shan't git 
to Richmond." 

I said to her, ''You are a patriot." 

*'Yes, honey — ain't you? Ain't every- 
body?" 

I was sorry to leave this heroine in home- 
spun, but she was too busy buying cakes, 
etc., for the ''old man" to be interrupted any 
longer. 

April 10. — Spent yesterday in the hospital 
by the bedside of Nathan Newton, our little 
Alabamian. I closed his eyes last night at 
ten o'clock, after an illness of 
L^k'^M^^^ six weeks. His body, at his 
Mother" *^^^ request, will be sent to his 

mother. Poor little boy. He 
was but fifteen, and should never have left 
his home. It was sad to pack his knapsack, 
with his little gray suit, and colored shirts, 
so neatly stitched by his poor mother, of 
whom he so often spoke, calling to us in de- 
lirium, ' ' Mother, mother, " or " Mother, come 
here." 

He so often called me mother that I said 
[1611 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to him one day, when his mind was clear, 
''Nathan, do I look like your mother?" 

''No, ma'am, not a bit; nobody is like my 
mother." 

April 11. — The "Virginia" went out to- 
day. The Federal ' ' Monitor ' ' would not meet 
her, but ran to Fortress Monroe, either for 
protection or to tempt her un- 
The First^ ^^j. ^^iq heavy guns of the fort- 

^aj. ress ; but she contented herself 

by taking three brigs and one 
schooner, and carrying them to Norfolk, with 
their cargoes. 

Soldiers are constantly passing through 
to^vn. Everything seems to be in preparation 
for the great battle which is anticipated on 
the Peninsula. 

Previously, on March 11th, Mrs. McGuire 
had recorded in her diary: 

Yesterday we heard good news from the 
mouth of James River. The ship ' ' Virginia, ' ' 
formerly the "Merrimac," having been com- 
pletely incased with iron, steamed out into 
Hampton Roads, ran into the Federal vessel 
"Cumberland," and then destroyed the 
"Congress," and ran the "Minnesota" 
[ 162 ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

ashore. Others were damaged. We have 
heard nothing further; but this is glory 
enough for one day, for which we will thank 
God and take courage. 

Later, under date of May 12th, Mrs. Mc- 
Guire wrote: 

Two hours ago we heard of the destruc- 
tion of the "Virginia" by our own people. 
It is a dreadful shock to the community. We 
can only hope that it was wisely done. Poor 
Norfolk must be given up.* 

July 28. — A long letter from S. S., describ- 
ing graphically their troubles when in Fed- 
eral lines. Now they are breathing freely 
again. A number of servants 

„^.* _, , from W. and S. H.f and in- 
Tnes Freedom -, -, ^ , , 

deed from the whole Pamunky 

River, went off with their Northern friends. 



*The belief is almost universal that the "Monitor" de- 
feated the "Virginia" in the historic duel in Hampton 
Roads. In that fight, however, the "Monitor," after a gal- 
lant combat, retired to shallow water where the heavily 
weighted "Virginia" could not follow. The "Monitor" there- 
after always fled from the "Virginia," not because her 
officers and men were afraid, but because they were under 
orders not to risk another engagement. 

f"W" — "Westwood"; "S. H." — "Summer Hill"; homes 
of Dr. Brockenbrough and Captain Newton, in Hanover 
County. 

[ 163 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

I am sorry for them, taken from their com- 
fortable homes to go they know not where, 
and to be treated they know not how. Our 
man Nat went, to whom I was very partial, 
because his mother was the maid and humble 
friend of my youth, and because I had brought 
him up. He was a comfort to us as a driver 
and hostler, but now that we have neither 
home, carriage, nor horses, it makes but little 
difference with us; but how, with his slow 
habits, he is to support himself, I can't im- 
agine. The wish for freedom is natural, and 
if he prefers it, so far as I am concerned, 
he is welcome to it. I shall be glad to hear 
that he is doing well. 

Mothers went off leaving children — in two 
instances, infants. Lord have mercy upon 
those poor misguided creatures ! 

Lynchburg, August 20. — Mr. McGuire and 
myself arrived here last night, after a most 
fatiguing trip, by Clarksville, Buffalo 
Springs, then to Wolf's Trap Station on the 
Danville road, and on to the Southside Rail- 
road. 

The cars were filled with soldiers on fur- 
lough. It was pleasant to see how cheerful 
[164] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

tliey were. Poor fellows! it is wonderful 
when we consider what the next battle may 
bring forth. They were occu- 
^ pied discussing the late battle 

at Cedar Run, between General Jackson and 
a portion of Pope's army, commanded by 
Banks. It was a very fierce fight, and many 
casualties on both sides ; but we won the day 
— the Lord be praised! 

Lynchburg is full of hospitals, to which the 
ladies are very attentive; and they are said 
to be well kept. I have been to a very large 
one to-day, in which our old home friends, 
Mrs. R., and Miss E. M., are matrons,* 
Everything looked beautifully neat and com- 
fortable. As a stranger, and having so much 
to do for my patient at home, I find I can 
do nothing for the soldiers, but knit for them 
all the time, and give them a kind word in 
passing. I never see one without feeling dis- 
posed to extend my hand and say, ' ' God bless 
you. ' ' 

September 5. — Our son J. arrived last night 
with quite a party, his health greatly suffer- 



'Mrs. E,."— Mrs. Rowland"; "E. M."— Emily Mason. 

[ 165 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ing from overwork in Richmond during these 

exciting times. One of the party told me 

an anecdote of General J. E. 

Anecdote of ^ Stuart, which pleased me 

General J. E. B. ,, ' ^ ^ . ^- 

Stuart greatly. Mrs. S. was m the 

cars, and near her sat a youth 
in all the pride of his first Confederate uni- 
form, who had attended General S. during his 
late raid as one of his guides through his na- 
tive county of Hanover. At one of the water 
stations he was interesting the passengers by 
an animated account of their hair-breadth es- 
capes by flood and field, and concluded by 
saying, '*In all the tight places we got into, 
I never heard the General swear an oath, and 
I never saw him drink a drop." Mrs. S. was 
an amused auditor of the excited narrative, 
and after the cars were in motion she leaned 
forward, introduced herself to the boy, and 
asked him if he knew the reason why General 
S. never swears nor drinks; adding, *'It is 
because he is a Christian and loves God, and 
nothing will induce him to do what he thinks 
wrong, and I want you and all his soldiers to 
follow his example. ' ' 

W., Hanover County, October 6th. — Mc- 
[166] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

Clellan's troops were very iv ell-behaved 
while in this neighborhood ; they took nothing 
but what they considered con- 
Negroes traband, such as grain, horses, 
Complain of cattle,, sheep, etc., and induced 

'Yankee" 

Work- "Uncle" ^^® servants to go off. Many 
Nat Returns have gone — it is only wonder- 
ful that more did not go, con- 
sidering the inducements that were offered. 
No houses were burned, and not much fencing. 
The ladies' rooms were not entered except 
when a house was searched, which always 
occurred to unoccupied houses ; but I do not 
think that much was stolen from them. Of 
course, silver, jewelry, watches, etc., were 
not put in their way. 

Our man Nat, and some others who went 
off, have returned — the reason they assign 
is, that the Yankees made them work too 
hard ! 

It is so hard to find both families without 
carriage horses, and with only some mules 
which happened to be in Richmond when the 
place was surrounded. A wagon, drawn by 
mules, was sent to the depot for us. So many 
of us are now together that we feel more like 
[ 167 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

quiet enjoyment that we have done for 
months. 

Ashland, October 19th. — We are now 
snugly fixed in Ashland. Our mess consists 
of Bishop Johns and family, Major J. and 
wife. Lieutenant Johns and wife (our 
daughter), Mrs. S., and daughter, of Chan- 
tilly; Mr. McGuire, myself, and our two 
young daughters — a goodly number for a cot- 
tage with eight small rooms ; but we are very 

comfortable. All from one 

In Ashland • i i, i j n i? j 

neighborhood, all refugees, and 

none able to do better, we are determined 
to take everything cheerfully. Many remarks 
are jestingly made suggestive of unpleasant 
collisions among so many families in one 
house; but we anticipate no evils of that 
kind; each has her own place, and her own 
duties to perform; the young married ladies 
of the establishment are by common consent 
to have the housekeeping troubles ; their hus- 
bands are to be masters, with the onerous 
duties of caterers, treasurers, etc. We old 
ladies have promised to give our sage advice 
and experience, whenever it is desired. The 
girls will assist their sisters, with their nim- 
[168] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

ble fingers, in cases of emergency; and the 
clerical gentlemen are to have their own way, 
and to do their own work without let or hin- 
drance. All that is required of them is that 
they shall be household chaplains, and that 
Mr. McGuire shall have service every Sunday 
at the neglected village church. With these 
discreet regulations, we confidently expect a 
most pleasant and harmonious establishment. 

November 29th. — Nothing of importance 
from the army. The people of Fredericks- 
burg suffering greatly from the sudden move. 
I know a family, accustomed to every luxury 
at home, now in a damp basement room in 
Richmond. The mother and three young 
daughters cooking, washing, etc.; the father, 
a merchant, is sick and cut off from busi- 
ness, friends, and everything else. Another 
family, consisting of mother and four daugh- 
ters, in one room, supported by the work 
of one of the daughters who has an office 
in the Note-Signing Department. To keep 
starvation from the house is all that they can 
do; their supplies in Fredericksburg can't be 
brought to them — no transportation. 

I cannot mention the numbers who are simi- 

r 1691 



The Women of the South in War Times 

larly situated ; the country is filled with them. 
Country houses, as usual, show a marvellous 
degree of elasticity. A small house accommo- 
dating any number who may apply ; pallets 
spread on the floor; every sofa and couch 
sheeted for visitors of whom they never heard 
before. If the city people would do more in 
this way, there would be less suffering. Every 
cottage in this village is full ; and now fami- 
lies are looking with wistful eyes at the ball- 
room belonging to the hotel, which, it seems 
to me, might be partitioned off to accommo- 
date several families. The billiard-rooms are 
taken, it is said, though not yet occupied. But 
how everybody is to be supported is a diffi- 
cult question to decide. 

Luxuries have been given up long ago, by 
many persons. Coifee is $4 per pound, and 
good tea from $18 to $20 ; butter ranges from 

$1.50 to $2 per pound ; lard, 50 
Yf^^ j"'^^^ "^ cents ; corn, $15 per barrel ; and 
Currency 0^862) ^heat $4.50 per bushel. We 

can't get a muslin dress for less 

than $6 or $8 per yard ; calico $1.75, etc. This 

last is no great hardship, for we all resort to 

homespun. "We are knitting our own stock- 

[170] 



Diary of Mrs, McGuire 

ings, and regret that we did not learn to spin 
and weave. The North Carolina homespun 
is exceptionally pretty, and makes a genteel 
dress; the only difficnlty is in the dye; the 
colors are pretty, but we have not learned the 
art of setting the wood colors ; but we are im- 
proving in that are too, and when the first 
dye fades, we can dip them again in the dye. 
December 15th. — An exciting day. Trains 
have been constantly passing with the 
wounded for the Richmond hospitals. Every 
lady, every child, every servant in the 
village, has been engaged in preparing and 
carrying food to the wounded as the cars 
stopped at the depot — coffee, tea, soup, milk, 
and everything we could obtain. With eager 
eyes and beating hearts we watched for those 
most dear to us. Sometimes they were so 
slightly injured as to sit at the windows and 
answer our questions, which they were eager 
to do. They exult in the victory. I saw sev- 
eral poor fellows shot through the mouth — 
they only wanted milk; it was soothing and 
cooling to their lacerated flesh. One, whom 
I did not see, had both eyes shot out. But 
I cannot write of the horrors of this day. 
[171] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Nothing but an undying effort to administer 
to their comfort could have kept us up. 

The Bishop was with us all day, and the 
few gentlemen who remained in the village. 
When our gentlemen came home at five 
o'clock they joined us, and were enabled to 
do what we could not — walk through each 
car, giving comfort as they went. The grati- 
tude of those who were able to express it was 
so touching ! They said that the ladies were 
at every depot with refreshments. As the 
cars would move off, those who were able 
would shout their blessings on the ladies of 
Virginia : * 'We will fight, we will protect the 
ladies of Virginia. ' ' Ah, poor fellows, what 
can the ladies of Virginia ever do to compen- 
sate them for all they have done and suffered 
for us. 

As a train approached late this evening, 
we saw comparatively very few sitting up. 
It was immediately surmised that it contained 
the desperately wounded, — perhaps many of 
the dead. With eager eyes we watched, and 
before it stopped I saw Surgeon J. P. Smith 
(my connection), spring from the platform, 
and come towards me; my heart stood still: 
[ 172 ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

''Wliat is it, Doctor? Tell me at once." 

^* Your nephews, Major B. and Captain C.,* 
are both on the train, dangerously wounded. ' ' 

''Mortally?" 

"We hope not. You will not be allowed to 
enter the car; come to Richmond tomorrow 
morning; B. will be there for you to nurse. 
I shall carry W. C. on the morning cars to 
his mother at the University. We will do 
our best for both." 

In a moment he was gone. Of course, I 
shall go down in the early cars, and devote 
my life to B. until his parents arrive. I am 
writing now because I can't sleep, and must 
be occupied. The cars passed on, and we 
filled our pitchers, bowls and baskets, to be 
ready for others. We camiot yield to private 
feelings now; they may surge up and rush 
through our hearts until they almost burst 
them, but they must not overwhelm us. We 
must do our duty to our country, and it can't 
be done by nursing our own sorrows. 

Jan. 19th, 1863. — Colonel Bradley Johnson 
has been with us for some days. He is nephew 



*Major Brockenbrough and Captain Colston. 

[ 173 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to Bishop J., and as bright and agreeable in 
private as he is bold and dashing in the field. 
Our little cottage has many pleasant visitors, 
and I think we are as cheerful a family circle 
as the Confederacy can boast. We are very 
much occupied by our Sunday-schools — white 
in the morning and colored in the after- 
noon.* 

February 11, 1863. — For ten days past I 

have been at the bedside of my patient in 

Eichmond. The physicians for the third time 

despaired of his life; by the 

Hospital Nurs- goodness of God he is again 
ing Without ° . , ^ , ° 

Medicines Convalescent. Our wounded are 

suffering excessively for tonics, 
and I believe that many valuable lives are 
lost for the want of a few bottles of porter. 
One day a surgeon standing by B.'s bedside 
said to me, ''He must sink in a day or two; 
he retains neither brandy nor milk, and his 
life is passing away for want of nourish- 
ment. ' ' 

In a state bordering on despair, I went out 
to houses and stores, to beg or buy porter ; not 



*See "Sidelight" on "Black-and-White Theology" at the 
tud of this installment of Mrs. McGuire's diary. 

[174] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

a bottle was in town. At last a lady told me 
that a blockade runner, it was said, had 
brought ale, and it was at the medical pur- 
veyor's. I went back to Mr. P.'s instantly, 
and told my brother (B.'s father) of the 
rumor. -To get a surgeon's requisition and 
go off to the purveyor's was the work of a 
moment. In a short time he returned, with a 
dozen bottles of India ale. It was adminis- 
tered cautiously at first, and when I found 
that he retained it, and feebly asked for more, 
tears of joy and thankfulness ran down my 
cheeks. ''Give him as much as he will take 
during the night, ' ' was the order of the physi- 
cian. The order was obeyed, and life seemed 
to return to his system ; in twenty-four hours 
he had drunk four bottles ; he began then to 
take milk, and I never witnessed anything 
like the reanimation of the whole man, physi- 
cal and mental. 

The hospitals are noAV supplied with this 
life-giving beverage, and all have it who ' ' ab- 
solutely require it." though great care is 
taken of it, for the supply is limited. Oh, how 
cruel it is that the Northern Government 
should have made medicines and the neces- 
[ 175 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

saries of life to the sick and wounded, con- 
traband articles ! 

March 5th. — Spent last night in Eichmond 
with my friend Mrs. E. This morning we at- 
tended Dr. Minnegerode 's prayer meeting at 
seven o'clock. It is a blessed 
Homemade privilege enjoyed by people in 

ber?y Wine!" ^^^^' "^^^^ ^^ attending re- 
and Hats ligious services so often, par- 

ticularly those social prayer- 
meetings, now that we feel our dependence 
on an Almighty arm, and our need of prayer 
more than we ever did in our lives. The 
President has issued another proclamation, 
setting aside the 27th day of this month for 
fasting and prayer. 

Again I have applied for an office, which 
seems necessary to the support of the family. 
If I fail, I shall try to think that it is not 
right for me to have it. Mr. McGruire's sal- 
ary is not much more than is necessary to pay 
our share of the expenses of the mess. Sev- 
eral of us are engaged in making soap, and 
selling it, to buy things which seem essential 
to our wardrobes. A lady who has been per- 
fectly independent in her circumstances, Jfind- 
[176] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

mg it necessary to do something of the kind 
for her support, has been very successful in 
making pickles and catsups for the restau- 
rants. Another, like Mrs. Primrose, rejoices 
in her success in making gooseberry wine, 
which sparkles like champagne, and is the 
best domestic wine I ever drank; this is de- 
signed for the highest bidder. The exercise 
of this kind of industry works two ways: 
it supplies our wants, and gives comfort to 
the public. 

Almost every girl plaits her own hat, and 
that of her father, brother, and lover, if she 
has the bad taste to have a lover out of the 
army, which no girl of spirit would do unless 
he is incapacitated by sickness or wounds. 
But these hats are beautifully plaited of rye 
straw, and the ladies' hats are shaped so be- 
comingly that though a Parisian milliner 
might pronounce them old fashioned, and 
laugh them to scorn, yet our Confederate 
girls look fresh and lovely in them, with their 
gentle countenances and bright enthusiastic 
eyes ; and what do we care for Parisian style, 
particularly as it would have to come to us 
through Yankeeland? The blockade has 
[177] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

taught our people their own resources; but 
I often think that when the great veil is re- 
moved, and reveals us to the world, we will, 
in some respects, be a precious set of antiques. 

March 15th. — Richmond was greatly 
shocked on Friday, by the blowing up of the 
Laboratory, in which women, girls, and boys 
were employed making cartridges ; ten women 
and girls were killed on the spot, and many 
more will probably die from their wounds. 
May God have mercy upon them. 

Our dear friend Mrs. Stuart had just heard 
of the burning of her house at beautiful 
Chantilly. The Yankee officers had occupied 
it as head-quarters and, on 
StuTrtHouse^ leaving it, set fire to every 
house on the land, except the 
overseer's house and one of the servants' 
quarters. I expressed my surprise to Mrs. 
S. that she was enabled to bear it so well. 
She calmly replied, "God has spared my sons 
through so many battles, that I should be un- 
grateful indeed to complain of anything 
else." 

This lovely spot had been her home from 
her marriage, and the native place of her 
[178] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

many children, and when I remember it as I 
saw it two years ago, I feel that it is too hard 
for her to be thus deprived of it. An officer 
(Federal) quartered there last winter, de- 
scribing it in a letter to the New York Herald, 
says the furniture had been '^ removed," ex- 
cept a large old-fashioned sideboard ; he had 
been indulging his curiosity by reading the 
many private letters which he found scattered 
about the house ; some of which, he says, were 
written by General Washington, * ' with whom 
the family seems to have been connected."* 
Tuesday Evening, May 12th. — How can X 



*This reference to the Washington letters recalls the 
fact that thousands of historic documents, letters, and 
manuscripts were destroyed during the war. Other thou- 
sands were carried North. 

A few of these documents have been returned. The 
most noted case was the return by Mr. J. P. Morgan, Jr., 
of Martha Washington's will. Tliis was about to be de- 
stroyed at Fairfax Court House by Blenker's troopers, but 
was saved by a Federal officer. It was later purchased by 
Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, (Sr.). In April, 1915, the State 
of Virginia instituted suit for possession of the will; but, 
largely through the good offices of the Daughters of the 
American Revolution, Mr. Morgan's son voluntarily agreed 
to return the document to its original resting place at Fair- 
fax Court House. 

At about the time of the above-mentioned incident, this 
will was taken from the records, possibly by the very officer 
referred to in the diary, as Mrs. Stuart's house was not 
far distant from the Court House of Fairfax County. 

[179] 



The Women of the South in War Times. 

record the sorrow which has befallen our 
country! Greneral T. J. Jackson is no more. 

The good, the great, the glori- 
The Death of ^^g gtonewall Jackson is num- 
jackson bered with the dead ! Humanly 

speaking, we cannot do with- 
out him; but the same God who raised him 
up, took him from us, and He who has so 
miraculously prospered our cause, can lead 
us on without him. Perhaps we have trusted 
too much to an arm of flesh ; for he was the 
nation's idol. His soldiers almost worshipped 
him, and it may be that God has therefore 
removed him. We bow in meek submission 
to the great Ruler of events. May his blessed 
example be followed by officers and men, even 
to the gates of heaven ! He died on Sunday 
the 10th, at a quarter past three, P. M. His 
body was carried by yesterday in a car, to 
Richmond. Almost every lady in Ashland 
visited the car, with a wreath or a cross of 
the most beautiful flowers, as a tribute to the 
illustrious dead. An immense concourse had 
assembled in Richmond, as the solitary car 
containing the body of the great soldier, ac- 
companied by a suitable escort, slowly and 
[180] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

solemnly approached tlie depot. The body- 
lies ill state to-day at the Capitol, wrapped 
in the Confederate flag, and literally covered 
with lilies of the valley and other beautiful 
Spring flowers. To-morrow the sad cortege 
will wend its way to Lexington, where he will 
be buried, according to his dying request, in 
the ' ^ Valley of Virginia. " As a warrior, we 
may appropriately quote from Byron: 

"His spirit wraps the dusky mountain. 
His memory sparkles o'er the fountain, 
The meanest rill, the mightiest river. 
Rolls mingling with his name forever." 

As a Christian, in the words of St. Paul, I 
thank God to be able to say, "He has fought 
the good fight, he has finished his course, he 
has kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid 
up for him a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give him 
at the last day. ' ' 

Monday, May 18th. — This morning we had 
the gratification of a short visit from Gen- 
eral Lee. He called and breakfasted with us, 
while the other passengers in 

Anecdote of ^-^^ cars ■ breakfasted at the 
General Lee 

hotel. We were very glad to 

see that great and good man look so well and 

[ 181 1 



The Women of the South in War Times 

so cheerful. His beard is very long, and pain- 
fully gray, which makes him appear much 
older than he really is. One of the ladies at 
table, with whom he is closely connected, 
rallied him on allowing his beard to grow, 
saying, ' ' Cousin Robert, it makes you look too 
venerable for your years." He was amused, 
and pleaded as his excuse the inconvenience 
of shaving in camp. ' ' Well, ' ' she replied, * ^ if 
I were in Cousin Mary's place (Mrs. L's) I 
would allow it to remain now, but I would 
take it off as soon as the war is over. ' ' He an- 
swered, while a shade passed over his bright 
countenance, "When the war is over she may 
take my beard off, and my head with it, if she 
chooses." 

June 6th. — We have been greatly inter- 
ested lately by a visit to the village of 
our old friend, Mrs. Thornton of Rappahan- 
nock County. She gives most 
Mrs. Thorton graphic descriptions of her so- 

Entertams journ of seven weeks among 

General Franz «;, _^ ^ , ^ * 

Sigei the Yankees last summer. 

Sixty thousand surrounded 

her house, under command of General Sigel. 

On one occasion, he and his staff rode up and 

[ 182 ] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

announced that they would take tea with her. 
Entirely alone, that elegant old lady retained 
her composure, and with unruffled counte- 
nance rang her bell; when the servant ap- 
peared, she said to him, ''John, tea for four- 
teen." She quietly retained her seat, con- 
versing with them with dignified politeness, 
and submitting as best she could to the Gen- 
eral's very free manner of walking about 
her beautiful establishment, pronouncing it 
"baronial," and regretting, in her presence, 
that he had not known of its elegancies and 
comforts in time, that he might have brought 
on Mrs. Sigel, and have made it his head- 
quarters. 

Tea being announced, Mrs. Thornton, be- 
fore proceeding to the dining-room, requested 
the servant to call a soldier in, who had 
been guarding her house for weeks, and who 
had sought occasion to do her many kind- 
nesses. 

When the man entered, the General de- 
murred: "No, no, madam, he will not go to 
table with us." 

Mrs. Thornton replied, "General, I must 
beg that you will allow this gentleman to come 
[ 183 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to my table, for he has been a friend to me 
when I have sadly wanted one." 

The General objected no farther; the man 
took tea with the master. After tea, the Gen- 
eral proposed music, asking Mrs, Thornton if 
she had ever played; she replied that "such 
was still her habit. ' ' The piano being opened, 
she said if she sang at all she must sing the 
songs of her owti land, and then, with her un- 
commonly fine voice, she sang '^The Bonnie 
Blue Flag," "Dixie," and other Southern 
songs, with fine spirit. 

Mrs. G. D.,* of Fredericksburg, has been 
giving some amusing incidents of her sud- 
den departure from her home. She had de- 
termined to remain, but when, 
Amusing (!) ^^^ ^j^^ j^- j^^ ^f ^^^ bombard- 

Expenences at . i n i , 

Fredericksburg ^^^^^^ ^ shell burst very near 
her house, her husband aroused 
her to say that she must go. They had no 
means of conveyance, and her two children 
were both under three years of age, and but 
one servant, (the others having gone to the 
Yankees), a girl twelve years old. 



*Mrs. Greenhow Daniel. 

[184] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

It so happened that they had access to 
three straw carriages, used by her own chil- 
dren and those of her neighbors. They 
quickly determined to put a child in each of 
two carriages, and to bundle up as many 
clothes as would fill the third. The father 
drew the carriage containing one child, the 
mother the other child, and the little girl drew 
the bundle of clothes. They thus set out, to 
go they knew not whither, only to get out of 
the way of danger. It was about midnight, 
a dark, cold night. They went on and on, to 
the outskirts of the town, encountering a con- 
fused multitude rushing pell-mell, with ever 
and anon a shell bursting at no great dis- 
tance, sent as a threat of what they might 
expect on the morrow. 

They were presently overtaken by a re- 
spectable shoemaker whom they knew, rolling 
a wheelbarrow containing a large bundle of 
clothes, and the hahy. They were attracted 
by the poor little child rolling off from its 
elevated place on the bundle, and as Mrs. D. 
stopped, with motherly solicitude for the 
child, the poor man told his story. In the 
darkness and confusion he had become sep- 
[ 185 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

arated from his wife and other children, and 
knew not where to find them; he tliought he 
might find them but for anxiety about the 
baby. Mrs. D. then proposed that he should 
take her bundle of clothes with his in the 
wheelbarrow, and put his child into the third 
straw carriage. This being agreed to, the 
party passed on. When they came to our 
encampment, a soldier ran out to offer to 
draw one carriage, and thus rest the mother ; 
having gone as far as he dared from his regi- 
ment, then another soldier took his place at 
the end of his line, and so on from one soldier 
to another until our encampment was passed. 
Then she drew on her little charge about two 
miles farther, to the house of an acquaintance, 
which was wide open to the homeless. Until 
late the next day the shoemaker's baby was 
under their care, but he at last came, bring- 
ing the bundle in safety. 

As the day progressed the cannon roared 
and the shells whistled, and it was thought 
advisable for them to go on to Chancellors- 
ville. The journey of several miles was per- 
formed on foot, still with the straw carriages, 
for no horse nor vehicle could be found in 
[186] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

that desolated country. They remained at 
Chancellorsville until the 2d or 3d of May, 
when that house became within range of can- 
non. Again she gathered up her little flock, 
and came on to Ashland. Her little three- 
year old boy explored the boarding-house as 
soon as he got to it, and finding no cellar, he 
became alarmed, and running to his mother, 
exclaimed, ''This house won't do, mother; we 
all have no cellar to go into when they shell 
it ! " Thus our children are born and reared 
amid war and bloodshed !* 
July 3. — Spent yesterday in the hospital; 
the wounded are getting on 
AdTlcfo'' ^™"- The City was put into a 
Gettysburg blaze of excitepient by the re- 

port that General Dix was 
marching on it from the White House. I dare 

*A characteristic but less dangerously "amusing" inci- 
dent was the journey, from Shepherdstown to Winchester, 
Virginia, of two young girls and a boy, the latter being a 
relative of General Lee and a son of Mrs. Henrietta B. 
Lee, whose letter to General Hunter has become a classic 
in war literature. (See p. 200.) This party consisted of 
Miss Rosa Robinson, Miss Eliza Hamtramk, and young 
Harry B. Lee, later a much -beloved clergyman in the Epis- 
copal Church. These three traveled the thirty-two miles 
from Shepherdstown to Winchester in an old "spring 
wagon," a "contraption" supported by three very uncertain 
wheels and a rail which dragged along the road the entire 

[187] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

say they think that General Lee has left it un- 
defended, in which surmise they are vastly 
mistaken. Our troops seem to be walking 
over Pennsylvania without let or hindrance. 
They have taken possession of Chambers- 
burg, Carlisle, and other smaller towns. They 
surrendered without firing a gun. I am glad 
to see that General Lee orders his soldiers to 
respect private property; but it will be diffi- 
cult to make an incensed soldiery, whose 
houses have in many instances been burned, 
crops wantonly destroyed, horses stolen, 
negroes persuaded otf, hogs and sheep shot 
down and left in the field in warm weather — 
it will be difficult to make such sufferers re- 
member the Christian precept of returning 
good for evil. 
November 13th. — My appointment to a 



distance in lieu of the fourth wheel. The borrowed "'horse 
power" of this strange vehicle was in keeping with the 
wagon, and the party was much delayed by the animal's 
determination to stop and lie down in every stream the 
pilgrims crossed. The three ''refugees" considered them- 
selves fortunate to get even this conveyance, although they 
had been all their lives accustomed to the best driving and 
riding horses and carriages. Their imselfish devotion to 
their cause was great; for their sole object in driving this 
distance in suchdiscomfort was to carry delicacies to the 
Confederate soldiers in the Winchester hospitals. 

[188] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

clerkship in the Commissary Department has 

been received, with a salary of $125 per 

month. The rooms are not 

Mrs. McGuire ready for us to begin our 

GovrnJent 'i^''^^' ^"'^ Colonel R. has just 
Position called to tell me one of the re- 

quirements. As our duties are 
those of accountants, we are to go through a 
formal examination in arithmetic. If we do 
not, as the University boys say, ''pass," we 
are considered incompetent, and of course are 
dropped from the list of appointees. This 
requirement may be right, but it certainly 
seems to me both provoking and absurd that 
I must be examined in arithmetic by a com- 
missary major young enough to be my son. 
If I could afford it, I would give up the ap- 
pointment, but, as it is, must submit with 
the best grace possible, particularly as other 
ladies of my age have to submit to it.* 

NOTES AND SIDELIGHTS 

By way of historical comment, it may be 
added here that the colored Sunday School 



*Excerpt8 from Mrs. McGuire's diary continued on 
page 372. 

[189] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

was one of the most interesting features of 
the old regime in the South. In some cases 
the negro children's views of 
WhS" Theology ''religion" amusingly mixed 
with the heathen ideas pre- 
served in the modified traditions of their race. 

On the other hand, the old black ''mam- 
mies" and "uncles" used to instruct their 
youthful white charges in ''sound" theology 
as well as quaint but practical philosophy. 
Mrs. Janet Weaver Eandolph, of Warren- 
ton, Virginia, wrote down, shortly after the 
war, the following sweet "teachings" of her 
old "Mammy:" 

"Mammy," she had asked as a child, "who 
made you black?" 

The little dimpled arms were crossed on 
Mammy's knee and the inquiring face of 
Mammy's darling looked lovingly up in 
Mammy's face. 

"Chile, who bin puttin' notions in your 

little curly haid? Gawd made Mammy black 

and he made you and your Ma 

of^Ham ^'^''*" white, for the reason that when 

Noah come out'n de Ark, Ham 

was disrespectful to his Pa and laughed 

[190] 



Black and White Theology 

at him, and Gawd told Ham he and his chil- 
dren should be always servants ; so He made 
him black, and dat's where we all black 
people come from. 

^'But, honey, de blessed Jesus says his 
blood is going to make us washed white as 
snow and somehow it allows to me dat in de 
Judgment day dere is going to be folks with 
white skins goin' to have black hearts, and 
black skins goin' to have white hearts, 
and Gawd is goin' to have places for dem 
all. 

* '■ The only thing dat troubles your Mammy 
is wheder her baby chile is going to know her 
Mammy, if she ain't got a black face; but I 
reckon Mammy ain't gwine to worry herself, 
'cause your Ma will know her and will call: 
'Mammy, come take your chile.' 'Cause 
Mammy is gwine to have her place up dere 
and you jus' tell folks dat bother you 'bout 
Mammy's black face dat Gawd made Mammy 
black." 

Another attractive story, also bearing 

upon ' * the ultimate future, ' ' was given to the 

writer by Mrs. Cordelia Powell Odenheimer, 

of Leesburg, Virginia, whose father heard 

[191] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

this version of salvation thus plainly ex- 
pounded by his ** Mammy:" 

''Who says I'se free? I warn't neber no 

slabe. I libed wid qual'ty an* was one ob de 

fambly. Take dis bandanna off? No, 'deedy! 

dats the las' semblance I'se got 

"Whar'sYo» ob de good ole times. S 'pose I 
Laming . ^ 

GoneTo?" ^^ brack, I cyan't he'p it. If 

mah mammy and pappy chose 

for me ter be brack, I ain't gwine ter be lak 

some white folks I knows an' blame de Lord 

for all de 'flictions dat comes 'pon 'em. I'se 

put up wid dis brackness now, 'cordin' to oP 

Mis's Bible, for nigh on ter ninety years, an' 

t'ank de good Lord, dat eberlastin' day is 

mos' come when I'll be white as Mis' Chloe 

for eher mo' I 

"Po' Mis' Chloe, she's been gone ter dat 

sunny Ian' for a long, long time. De night 

she was born was so long an' col', an' de 

stars kep' hid in de brack sky, an' de trees 

ben' til de branches snap an' break; an' when 

the win' was roarin' mos,' I hyeard a li'l cry 

dat went right to mah heart. Seems dat night 

was a sign ob what she was to 'spec in life, 

fer dat roarin' win' took de soul ob her Ma to 

[192] 



Black cmd White Theology 

Heben. Dat was de only time I 'monstrated 
'gainst mah brack 'fliction, deed tis, honey. 
Den I prayed : ' Oh Marse Gord, please le'me 
go wid mah Missis ; but if I mns ' stay hyar, 
for dis lamb's sake le'me turn white!' 

''De Lord showed His wisdom and didn' do 
needer, an' I took cyar ob Mis' Chloe til 
Marse Jack an' I put her in de col' groun* 
long side her Pa an' Ma. 

"When she was li'l', she'd put her 11 '1* 
white arms 'roun' mah ol' brack neck an' 
say: 'Mammy, you ain' brack, you's choco- 
late, an' Mammy, I lub chocolate bes' in all 
de worl'!' "... 

. . /'I'se an ol' woman, an' nobody 
wants me hyar, an' if it warn' dat I hab de 
Scripters to lean on, I'd t'ink de good Lord 
didn' wan' me needer. I'se mi'ty tired wait- 
in'. What's dat honey? How I knows 
I'se gwine ter be white? Why honey, I'se 
'sprised! Do you spose 'cause Mammy's face 
is brack, her soul is brack too? Whar's yo' 
larnin' gone to?" 

Mrs. Odenheimer writes : 

"The Mammy who used these expressions 
nursed all my Grandmother's children and all 
[193] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

of our family. Up to the time I left home 
for school I never recall going to sleep with- 
out having her by my bed telling me old time 
stories or crooning the old time songs. Many 
of the stories were ghost horrors, usually 
about my long departed relatives returning 
for one purpose or another. When I opened 
my eyes in the morning it was to see this same 
bent, stock, bandanna-ed watch dog sitting by 
the stove, smoking her corncob pipe and 
wrapping her 'rheumatiz' legs up with red 
flannel soaked in coal oil." 

It is not generally realized that the 
** titles" given to the older negroes provided 
a method of teaching children to respect 
them. Judge W. W. Moifett, of Roanoke, ex- 
plains this in a letter to the writer under date 
of June 26, 1917: 

**I was born in 1854, in Culpeper County, 
Virginia, in the very heart of a * slave-hold- 
ing' community. My father was a planter 
and owned many * servants,' 
Family Servants ^g jj^q colored people were 

Titles ° called on our farm. Neither 

my father nor mother called 
them negroes ; at that time it was objection- 
[194] 



Honorary Titles 

able to the black race, and we were not 
allowed to call them negroes or slaves. 

^'We were taught from our early infancy 
to respect the older men and women by call- 
ing them Uncle Jack, Uncle Abb, Uncle 
French, Uncle Bob, etc., and Aunt Milly, 
Aunt Edy, Aunt Betsy, etc., and to guard the 
rights and feelings of the younger ones. 

*'No one knows how strong the attach- 
ment was between the youth [of both races] 
of the old South except the youth of the old 
South, or of the devotion between master and 
mistress and their servants except those of 
this generation who witnessed that devotion. 
The community in which I was reared was 
nobly Christian ; the white people and colored 
people all belonged to the same church, and 
when the minister would visit the homes of 
his members, the colored people would gather 
at family prayers. The relationship which 
existed on our farm was that which could 
exist only between a strong manly moral 
man and master and a noble Christian wife 
and mistress, who looked upon their servants 
as weaker beings that should be protected 
and developed." 

[195] 



XV 

A LAST SONG IN A BURNING HOME 

In all America, perhaps, but certainly in 
the valley of the Shenandoah, a name which 
will ever be held up to execration is that of 
General David Hunter. This execration is 
by no means sectional or partisan; for Gen- 
eral Hunter was secretly, and often openly, 
scorned by many Federal soldiers who had 
the misfortune to serve under him, while it 
is said that not a few refused to obey his 
orders. 

On his invasion of the Shenandoah Valley 
in 1864, the first victim to suffer under the 
ruthless policy of General Hunter was his 
first cousin, Hon. Andrew Hunter, of Charles 
Town, Virginia, (West Virginia). Not con- 
tent with directing that Mr. Hunter, an 
elderly man, be placed in close confinement. 
General Hunter gave orders that Mr. Hunt- 
er's house be burned. His cousins, the 
women of the household, were not permitted 
to save either their clothing or their family 
portraits from the flames. Thereafter, in 
[196] 



A Last Song 

order to make the destruction complete, Gen- 
eral Hunter camped his cavalry on the highly 
cultivated ground surrounding the site of the 
house until every vestige of lawn and garden 
had been ruined beyond hope of repair. 

This exploit having been brought to a close, 
General Hunter sent out a force with orders 
to destroy ''Fountain Rock," the Boteler 
residence near Shepherdstown. Colonel 
Boteler was a member of the Confederate 
Congress and was then in Richmond. At the 
time of General Hunter's invasion, the only 
members of the family at home were Mrs. 
Davis Shepherd, Colonel Boteler 's widowed 
daughter, who was an invalid ; her three chil- 
dren, the oldest of whom was not six years 
old; and Miss Helen Boteler. 

On July 19, 1864, therefore, in pursuance of 
instructions from General Hunter, Captain 
William F. Martindale, with a detachment of 
cavalry, rode up to the Boteler home. 
Warned of their approach, Mrs. Shepherd 
met the soldiers at the door. Captain Martin- 
dale stated that he had come to burn her 
house and its contents. Pleading was in vain, 
and Mrs. Shepherd and Miss Boteler made 
[197] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

preparations to save household and personal 
effects; but Captain Martindale, in accord- 
ance with the orders of General Hunter, di- 
rected that everything be consigned to the 
flames. The furniture was piled up on the 
floor, straw was brought from the barn, and 
the soldiers busied themselves scattering over 
all kerosene oil, which they had brought with 
them for the purpose. In the midst of this 
work of destruction. Miss Boteler, a devoted 
student of music, pleaded for her piano. This 
was denied her and while the flames were 
bursting out in other rooms, she went into the 
parlor, and, seating herself for the last time 
before the instrument, began to sing Char- 
lotte Elliott's hymn: 

My God, my Father, while I stray 
Far from my home in life's rough way, 
Oh, teach me from my heart to say, 
"Thy will be done!" 

A soldier seized her to lead her out of the 
house, but she pulled away from him and sang 
again : 

Though dark my path, and sad my lot. 
Let me be still and murmur not; 
Or breathe the prayer divinely taught, 
"Thy will be done!" 
[ 198 ] 



A Last Song 

In amazement, the cavalrymen thought the 
girl was crazed with grief ; but as the flames 
came nearer, Miss Boteler calmly shut down 
the lid of the piano, locked it, and went out 
under the trees, — the only shelter left for her- 
self, her sick sister, and the frightened little 
children.* 



*A few articles were saved by the very persistence of 
Mrs. Shepherd, Miss Boteler, and some people who came 
from Shepherdstown. This was in the face of great dis- 
couragement; for even the baby's cradle, which the nurse 
had brought out, was thrown back into the flames of the 
burning house. At least one soldier, in disobedience to 
orders, dared to help; but others, on the way to burn the 
barn and outhouses, stopped to set fire td the little pile 
of clothing belonging to Margaret Bunkins, a faithful 
colored house servant. The frightened girl had endeavored 
to hide her "belongings" behind a hedge, 



[199] 



XVI 

A WOMAN'S REBUKE— AND AN 
AMERICAN CLASSIC 

Although many of the women of the old 
South had literary ability, there were few 
who ever attempted to put it to account in 
the writing of books. This natural ability 
was not trained or developed ; but it is shown 
in the form of letters, diaries, and chance un- 
signed sketches. 

At the time of the burning of ''Fountain 
Rock," General Hunter's destroying bands 
went south of Shepherdstown and set fire to 
** Bedford," the home of Edmund J. Lee. 
Mr. Lee was away; but his wife, Henrietta 
Bedinger Lee, was at home, together with her 
two young children. Captain Martindale 
greeted Mrs. Lee with the same kind of mess- 
age he had delivered to Mrs. Shepherd. Mrs. 
Lee, in reply, told him that the house was her 
own, an inheritance from her father, Daniel 
Bedinger, a soldier of the American Revolu- 
tion; that ''surely the Union army was not 
warring on women and children." Captain 
[200] 



A Woman's Rebuke 

Martindale was not to be moved, however, 
and declared that irrespective of property 
rights, the house was at least the home of 
Edmund J. Lee and that was *' enough" for 
him.* 

The day after the destruction of her house, 
Mrs. Lee's outraged spirit compelled her to 
write to General Hunter, whose own niece she 
had sheltered and protected during the war. 
Her letter deserves recognition in American 
literature as a classic expression of richly 
merited excoriation. No other, in any of our 
wars, equals it in its force, directness, and un- 
escapable challenge to an accounting at the 
bar of history. 

Shepherdstown, W. Va., July 20, 1864. 
General Hunter: 

Yesterday your underling, Captain Martindale, of the 
First New York Veteran Cavalry, executed your infamous 
order and burned my house. You have had the satisfaction 
ere this ol receiving from him the information that your 
orders were fulfilled to the letter, the dwelling and every 
outbuilding seven in number, with their contents, being 

*Mrs Lee's indignant query as to "making war upon 
women and children" recalls the magnanimous spirit and 
acts of General John H. Martindale (p. 42), who was 
efficient in his duties and yet won many Southern hearts 
by his kindness. 

[2011 



The Women of the South in War Times 

burned. I, therefore, a helpless woman whom you have 
cruelly wronged, address you, a Major-General of the 
United States Army, and demand why this was done? 
What was my offence? My husband was absent, — an exile. 
He has never been a politician or in any way engaged in 
the struggle now going on, his age preventing. This fact 
your chief-of-staflF, David Strother, would have told you. 

The house was built by my father, a Revolutionary 
soldier, who served the whole seven years for your inde- 
pendence. There was I born; there the sacred dead repose. 
It was my house and my home, and there has your niece. 
Miss Griffith, who lived among us all this horrid war up 
to the present moment, met with all kindness and hospi- 
tality at my hands. Was it for this that you turned me, 
my young daughter, and little son out upon the world 
without shelter? Or was it because my husband is the 
grandson of the Revolutionary patriot and "rebel," Richard 
Henry Lee, and the near kinsman of the noblest of Chris- 
tian warriors, and greatest of generals, Robert E. Lee? 
Heaven's blessing be upon his head forever! You and 
your Government have failed to conquer, subdue, or match 
him; and disappointed rage and malice find vent on the 
helpless and inoflFensive. 

Hyena-like, you have torn my heart to pieces! for all 
hallowed memories clustered around that homestead; and 
demonlike, you have done it without even the pretext of 
revenge, for I never saw or harmed you. Your ofiice is 
not to lead, like a brave man and soldier, your men to 
fight in the ranks of war, but your work has been to 
separate yourself from all danger, and with your incen- 
diary band steal unaware upon helpless women and chil- 
dren, to insult and destroy. Two fair homes did you yes- 
terday ruthlessly lay in ashes, giving not a moment's 

[202] 



A Woman's Rehuke 

warning to the startled inmates of your wicked purpose; 
turning mothers and children out of doors, your very 
name is execrated by your own men for the cruel work 
you give them to do. 

In the case of Mr. A. R. Boteler, both father and mother 
were far away. Any heart but that of Captain Martindale 
(and yours) would have been touched by that little circle, 
comprising a widowed daughter just risen from her bed 
of illness, her three fatherless babies, — the eldest five years 
old — and her heroic sister. I repeat, any man would have 
been touched at that sight but Captain Martindale! One 
might as well hope to find mercy and feeling in the heart 
of a wolf bent on his prey of young lambs, as to search 
for such qualities in his bosom. You have chosen well your 
agent for such deeds, and doubtless will promote him. 

A colonel of the Federal Army has stated that you 
deprived forty of your officers of their commands because 
they refused to carry out your malignant mischief. All 
honor to their names for this, at least! They are men, 
and have human hearts and blush for such a commander! 
I ask who that does not wish infamy and disgrace attached 
to him forever would serve under you? Your name will 
stand on history's pages as the Hunter of weak women, 
and innocent children ; the Hunter to destroy defenceless 
villages and beautiful homes — to torture afresh the agonized 
hearts of widows; the Hunter of Africa's poor sons and 
daughters, to lure them on to ruin and death of soul and 
body; the Hunter with the relentless heart of a wild 
beast, the face of a fiend, and the form of a man. Oh, 
Earth, behold the monster! Can I say "God forgive you"? 
No prayer can be offered for you! Were it possible for 
human lips to raise your name heavenward, angels would 
thrust the foul thing back again, and demons claim their 
own. Tlie curse of thousands, the scorn of the manly and 
[ 203 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

upright, and the hatred of the true and honorable, will 
follow you and youra through all time, and brand your 
name infamy! infamy! 

Again, I demand why have you burned my house; 
Answer as you must answer before the Searcher of all 
hearts ; why have you added this cruel, wicked deed to your 
many crimes? 

Henrietta B. Lee 

Mrs. Lee lived long after the war. She saw 
sons and grandsons enter the ministry or be- 
come missionaries in foreign lands. In later 
years, she said she regretted the expression 
of her belief that *'no prayer" could be of- 
fered for General Hnnter, but that otherwise 
she would let the letter stand as written. 



[204] 



XVII 
**GLEN WELBY'^ SAVED 

By way of comparison with the above inci- 
dents, there were instances when a woman's 
determination won against direct orders to 
burn her home. A single illustration may be 
given in the case of Mrs. Taylor Scott, of 
Fauquier County, Virginia. 

Enraged after a severe brush with Mosby's 
men, Federal troops under Colonel Gallop 
rode to ''Glen Welby," where Mrs. Scott was 
living with her mother, Mrs. Richard H. 
Carter. Throwing out sentinels on every 
side, some of the soldiers entered the house. 

''We have come," said the officer in charge, 
"to burn the house and every building at- 
tached to the grounds," to which he added: 
' ' I know, madam, you are in the habit of har- 
boring those miserable cut-throats, Mosby's 
rangers, and you shall suffer for it." 

At their request, five minutes were given 

to the family to save some household effects, 

chiefly clothing; for it was well into autumn 

and the weather was chilly. Thereupon, Mrs. 

[ 205 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Carter, her unmarried daughters, a niece, and 
a child left the building. Mrs. Scott, however, 
went into the house with her young son. Seat- 
ing herself, she declared: "My son, if they 
will burn this dear old home, we will perish 
in the flames. ' ' 

At this point, a corporal was seen to ap- 
proach his commanding officer. Apparently, 
as the result of the conference. Colonel Gallop 
sent for Mrs. Carter. With her was her 
daughter, Sophie. To Mrs. Carter, Colonel 
Gallop said: 

**I have determined, Madam, to spare your 
home this time ; but if I ever catch or hear of 
one of these cut-throats here again, nothing 
will save the house or any building on the 
place. ' ' 

To this Sophie Carter at once replied: 
"We cannot make any such promise. If 
we did, it would be impossible for us to keep 
it; for, when soldiers come, we cannot, if we 
would, order them away." 

"Glen Welby" was saved, and the chair in 
which Mrs. Scott made her heroic resolution 
became an object of especial value in at least 
one Virginia family. 

[206] 



XVIII 
"GOTT ISS BLAYED OUDT'» 

The story of the savmg of *^Glen Welby" 
may be supplemented by the experience of 
Mrs. Daniel Bedinger Lucas, who was Miss 
Lena Brooke. Mrs. Lucas had been a brides- 
maid for Fanny Carter, of ''Glen Welby." 
Miss Brooke married Judge Daniel Bedinger 
Lucas, author of the beautiful Southern lyric, 
''The Land Where We Were Dreaming," 
(see p. 70). His home, "Rion Hall," was in 
the Shenandoah Valley within a few miles of 
"Bedford" and "Fountain Rock." "Rion 
Hall" survived the ruthlessness of Hunter, 
Martindale, and Strother. For a time, Gen- 
eral Sheridan made this house his headquar- 
ters ; and on the walls of the bedrooms there 
may still be seen (1919) the names of some 
of the Federal officers. The marks of their 
sabres on doors and other woodwork are like- 
wise in evidence. 

At this time, a woman living in the neigh- 
borhood made daily visits to the Federal 
[207] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

lieadqnarters at *'Rion Hall" to sell cakes to 
the soldiers. She thereby was the means of 
saving the family portraits; for, on one of 
these visits, she fonnd that some of the offi- 
cers had cnt the pictures from their frames, 
which were ready to be shipped North. The 
portraits had been thrown on the floor. Sur- 
reptitiously, the woman rolled up the latter, 
carried them to her home, and hid them under 
a mattress until the Lucas family returned to 
their homestead after the war. 

At another time, the place was overran by 
a regiment composed largely of foreigners in 
the Federal service. Among those then at 
'*Rion Hall" was the Reverend E. B. Bed- 
inger and his family, consisting of his wife 
and several small children. Regardless of the 
protests of Mr. Bedinger, the soldiers burst 
into the room of his wife, Avho was ill. 

As one of the men was rifling the contents 
of the bureau, Mrs. Bedinger, with her young 
baby beside her, and her other terror-stricken, 
children around her bedside, called to the 
man in the midst of looting: 

"Don't you know that God sees you and 
that he will punish you for this?" 
[ -^OS ] 



*'GoU Iss Biased Oudt" 

''Acli!" was the gruff response, after a 
moment's silence, '*GoU iss hlayed oudt!" 

^ ^ ^ 

' ' Riou Hall is within five miles of the scene 
of John Brown's raid. Above a door near the 
stairway may be seen one of the murderous- 
looking iron pikes with which 
An Incident of Brown hoped to arm the slaves 
Brown Raid "^ ^ servile insurrection. The 
two-bladed iron head is set 
upon a pole about six feet in length. For 
some time prior to the raid, John Brown 
and his emissaries had carried on propaganda 
among the negroes of that section. The ne- 
groes, however, had) been elevated so far 
above their savage instincts by the kindly 
Christian influences of the Southern people 
that they had little or no inclination ' ' to rise 
up and slay. ' ' They represented at that time 
the only people in the world who could re- 
main content in a condition of bondage. 

After the capture of John Brown, ''Uncle 
Charles," the trusted coachman of "Rion 
Hall," brought this particular pike to Mr. 
Lucas, saying: 

*'Dis here spike is what dey done gimme 
[209] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ter cut you-all haids off wid; but, deed I 
warn't gwine to use it fer no sich thing! no 
sah!" 

Hovenden's picture of John Brown's execu- 
tion was long ''one of the six most notable 
historical paintings" on exhibition at the 
Metropolitan Museum in New York City. 
This painting is intended to illustrate Whit- 
tier's poem on the death of John Brown. As 
he is beuig led out to execution, Brown is 
represented, in poem and in picture, as lean- 
ing over to bless and kiss a negro child. 

The painting is no more ''historical" than 
this poem of Whittier's or his other verses 
on the wholly imaginary incident of Barbara 
Fritchie and "Stonewall" Jackson. There 
were no negroes present at the execution of 
John Bro\vn and his accomplices. The first 
person killed by John Brown's men was a 
negro employee of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, who refused to join this band "bent 
on pillage and bloodshed" in the name of 
liberty and humanity. Incidentally it may be 
mentioned that the fullest and most accurate 
biography of Brown is that by H. Peebles 
Wilson, of Kansas (1913). 
[210] 



XIX 

*' CAPTURE" OF A VIRGINIA LADY 

The most grateful task of a narrator of 
war life in an invaded country is that of re- 
cording deeds of kindness on the part of the 
victors toward the vanquished. Unfortu- 
nately, deeds of kindness are too often over- 
looked, as ''not making history." There are 
many such in the narratives of soldiers of 
either side, and they should be collected and 
published as an invaluable contribution to 
American history. 

One of the most attractive of these stories 
is given by Lieutenant James Madison Page 
in his book, ''The True Story of Anderson- 
ville Prison." By the author's permission, 
the following selection is taken from his in- 
teresting narrative and presented here be- 
cause it relates closely to the events and lo- 
calities above mentioned. Lieutenant Page 
writes of this experience: 

It was about the first of May, 1863, that 
Colonel Gray ordered the regiment ready to 
march light. Early the next morning we 
[211] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

started in the direction of Winchester. It 
was understood that we were this time really 
to bag Mosby and his men, and the ambitious 
commissary-sergeant temporarily took leave 
of his accounts and supplies and rode with 
the fighting detachment. We picked up two 
or three of Mosby 's ''raiders," and toward 
noon Ave circled to the left and immediately 
passed through a small hamlet on the Win- 
chester pike. In the edge of the town the 
regiment halted and dismounted for noon 
rest, when Colonel Gray called me and said, 
''Sergeant, did you notice that large man- 
sion standing well back of a magnificent 
lawn, on our right a short distance back*?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Well, you take two non-commissioned offi- 
cers and twelve men, ride back there, station 
your men around that house and adjacent 
buildings, and give them instruction to shoot 
any one attempting to escape that will not 
halt at a command, and then go through that 
mansion from cellar to garret and seize any- 
thing contraband that you find." 

Of all my duties as a soldier this was the 
one I most detested. 

[212] 



"Capture'^ of a Virginia Lady 

I was soon on the ground and stationed my 
men. I felt like a trespasser when I ap- 
proached the door in company with Sergeant 
Parshall, whom I asked to go with me in 
case of trouble. (Dick Parshall was after- 
ward one of Custer's best scouts.) When I 
rang the bell the door was opened by a fine- 
looking, middle-aged woman, who, upon hear- 
ing my business, was not slow in conveying 
to me in language of scintillating scorn what 
she thought of me and the whole Yankee na- 
tion. 

In my placid answer to her furious arraign- 
ment I said, ''Madam, I am very sorry to dis- 
turb you and I do not wonder that you are 
greatly distressed at this action, but I am 
acting under orders, and if you knew how 
very disagreeable this task is to me you would 
deliver to me at once the key to every room in 
the house and facilitate the enjoined search 
as much as possible." Thereupon she reluc- 
tantly handed me a bunch of keys, and ac- 
companied us to the third floor, where I made 
short work of my search, and returned to the 
second floor. In the second room I entered 
I found three women, an unlooked for find, 
[213] 



The Women of the South in War Times, 

and after a hasty searcli of the apartment I 
excused myself as gracefully as I could and 
retreated in good order. 

Passing to another room on the same floor I 
was surprised anew to find five ladies as un- 
concerned as though taking an afternoon tea 
and indulging in gossip. 

My curiosity was piqued. It was not prob- 
able that these Avomen all belonged to one 
household. "What common purpose, I queried, 
had drawn them together? 

I retreated again, and soon reached what 
seemed to be a front-room parlor on the 
same floor. The room was large, and well 
filled with some fifteen or twenty women. As 
soon as I recovered from this, another shock 
of surprise, I said ''Ladies, I ask your par- 
don. I was not aware that there was a con- 
vention of women assembled here to-day, or 
I should have suffered arrest sooner than to 
have disturbed you." They did not seem to 
be in a humor to accept my apology, and the 
lady of the house, who was with me from 
the first, was joined by others of her pro- 
nounced opinions, and from this group of 
representative women I learned some things 
[214] 



'' Capture'* of a Virginia Lady 

about myself and the Yankee army that I 
never knew before. 

The sense of gallantry again overcame me, 
and I fell back before a superior force and 
was glad to retire from the unequal conflict. 

I completed my search of the lower floor 
of the house as rapidly as possible. When I 
reached the front door, in taking my leave of 
the premises, I handed the keys back to the 
mistress of the mansion and said, ''Madam, 
I am very sorry that in obeying orders I have 
been the cause of so much annoyance to you, 
especially considering the unusual condition 
of your household." 

- I was about to bid her a respectful adieu, 
when I noticed a door at my right leading 
into a room some twelve by fifteen enclos- 
ing a portion of the porch. It had the ap- 
pearance of having been built for a special 
secret reason. Of course my duty required 
me to examine this room, and on finding it 
locked, I asked for the key. 

I shall never forget the look of conster- 
nation on the mistress's face upon my mak- 
ing this demand. This spirited woman, who 
during this short interview had steadily mani- 
[2151 



The Women of the South in War Times 

f ested a spirit of proud defiance, expressed in 
her entire disparagement of the Yankee army 
and myself in particular, was now overcome 
with apprehension and alarm, which were 
manifest in her suddenly changed bearing. 

She very reluctantly handed me the keys 
and turned away. During this time Parshall 
had gone to the opposite end of the porch and 
was talking to the guard. I finally unlocked 
the door, feeling sure that I should find some 
of Mosby's men, and, revolver in hand, I was 
prepared to meet them. What met my gaze 
was the climax of the day's surprises and 
explained those before encountered. 

The room was filled to the height of six feet 
or more with choice articles of food, such as 
baked turkey, chicken, hams, bread, pastry 
and the like, disposed tastefully in tiers, one 
above another. 

For a brief moment I wistfully surveyed 
this tempting array of choice food, so powerful 
in its appeal to a soldier's usually ravenous 
appetite. But as I reflected upon the choice 
treat prepared at great pains by the women, 
and upon the disappointment that would re- 
sult from not being allowed to serve it, and 
[216] 



'' Capture'* of a Virginia Lady 

hearing Parshall returning, I hastily locked 
the door and handed the key to madam, who 
meanwhile had been anxiously watching me. 
I now bade her good-by, and signaled the 
guards to withdraw, and started down the 
walk. Almost immediately she was by my 
side, and said in a trembling voice: *'I owe 
you an apology. I have often said there was 
not a gentleman in the Yankee army, but I 
must except one. You have placed me, with 
my neighbors and friends, many of whom you 
have just seen, under great obligation. My 
heart sank when you insisted on going into 
that room. I fully expected you and your 
men would despoil us of the necessary food, 
prepared at great pains from our meagre re- 
sources. Imagine, then, my surprise when 
you locked the door so hastily for fear 
your comrade would see the contents of the 
room." 

''Madam," I replied, ''I thank you, but I 
have only done my duty as I understand it. 
I am not in the army to increase the hard- 
ships of defenseless women. I assure you 
that I would gladly protect every one of them 
from the unnecessary hardships of this un- 
[217] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

fortunate strife. Their suffering is great, — 
greater indeed than that of the men at the 
front, and is likely to increase as the war 
goes on."* 

The writer became deeply interested in 
Lieutenant Page 's narrative ; correspondence 
was begun with him, and testimony as to his 
standing and character was secured from 
prominent citizens of Montana, who had 
known Lieutenant Page intimately for almost 
a life time. Mr. M. J. Haley, who helped with 
the compiling of Lieutenant Page's data on 
Andersonville Prison and his defense of the 
memory of Captain Henry Wirz, wrote in 
1917: 

*'In 1865, when a boy, I read Albert D. 



*Lieutenant Page was born in Crawford County, Penn- 
sylvania, of the Massachusetts family of that name. His 
narrative should be widely read, not only because of its in- 
nate interest, but because of its exceptional value as a 
contribution to American history. It was, moreover, writ- 
ten largely because the author considered it a sacred duty 
to refute certain falsehoods about his former foemen. Sub- 
sequently to the publication of his volume, a deliberate 
attempt was made to discredit both the narrative and the 
author. It was begun through interested motives by men 
who profited politically or personally in keeping alive sec- 
tional animosities and misunderstandings. It was remarked 
that his bitterest detractors "never saw much of the smoke 
of battle; or if they did, they saw it well in the rear." 

[218] 



"Capture" of a Virginia Lady 

Eicliardson's book on Andersonville. I asked 
my brother, avIio had a few months previously 
returned from the army. He told me the 
Confederate guards at Andersonville were on 
'starvation rations,' and that Richardson's 
account was grossly exaggerated. In 1871 or 
1872, I met a man named Yates at Syracuse, 
New York, who had been a prisoner at Ander- 
sonville. He told me that Wirz did the very 
best that he could under the circumstances 
and that his death was an outrage and a na- 
tion's disgrace. 

"There isn't a person in the State of Mon- 
tana who knows Colonel Page that would 
doubt his word. His word is ' as good as his 
bond'." 

Also in 1917, Judge Lew L. Calloway, of 
Montana, wrote that Lieutenant Page re- 
gretted that a few of his comrades took the 
attitude they did, but nevertheless, ''he had 
not stated anything but the truth in his book, 
and he did not regret doing justice to a man 
to whom he thought grave injustice had been 
done." This Avas true chivalry, in keeping 
with his gallant protection of the Southern 
woman above mentioned, even though at first 
[219] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

she had most unhappily misjudged and 
wronged him. 

Among other tokens Major Wirz was the 
recipient of a gold watch presented to him 
by prisoners at Andersonville in appreciation 
of his personal efforts to relieve their suffer- 
ings. This watch was taken from him when 
he himself became a prisoner and was made 
the scapegoat for the policy of non-exchange 
that was doubtless instituted by Secretary 
Stanton. 



[220] 



XX 

IN THE CAEOLINAS 

Hold up the glories of thy dead; 
Say how thy elder children bled, 
And point to Eutaw's battle-bed, 
Carolina! 

Tell how the patriot's soul was tried. 
And what his dauntless breast defied; 
How Rutledge ruled and Laurens died, 
Carolina ! 

Cry! till thy summons, heard at last. 
Shall fall like Marion's bugle-blast 
Re-echoed from the haunted Past, 
Carolina ! 

— Henby Timrod. 

Travellers, visitors, and others have some- 
times made more or less good-natured com- 
ment upon the slowness of material develop- 
ment shown in some parts of the South. When 
these critics, however, live with the people 
and learn what the latter suffered for twenty 
years and more after 1860, they as cheer- 
fully bear witness rather to what has been 
accomplished than to that which remains to be 
done. As they become better acquainted with 
[ 221 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Southern history, they recognize that none 
but a wonderful race could, through four 
years of war and ten years of ''reconstruc- 
tion," have preserved their capacity for self- 
government. This last is what they fought 
for and this, in time, was returned to them.* 

On the eighteenth of December, 1864, Gen- 
eral Halleck wrote to General Sherman; 

"Should you capture Charleston, I hope 
that by some accident the place may be de- 
stroyed and if a little salt should be sown 
upon its site, it may prevent the growth of 
future crops of nullification and secession. ' ' 



*"More than ever, in this Nation, there must be fra- 
ternity, sympathy, and clear vmderstanding of differing 
-points of view, if Union and Liberty are to abide together. 
Above all else, we of the North must open our minds to 
the ante bellum Southern point of view; and while we 
gladly 'let the dead past bury its dead,' we must not 
strangle that living veracity that has descended to our own 
day. We must come to realize that it was to maintain 
principles fundamental to human liberty that the South 
resorted to arms in 1861 ; and thereby, probably, prevented 
this Nation from becoming overwhelmingly and unalterably 
imperialistic . . . 

". . . No people of any true spirit will submit to 
the invasion of their homes and institutions; nor should 
they be expected to do so! Charles Francis Adams, speak- 
ing in Lee Memorial Chapel, at Lexington, Virginia, on 
the occasion of the Centenary of the birth of Robert Edward 
Lee, said, 'Had I been circumstanced as Lee was, in 1861, 
I should have done precisely as he did.' "■ — A. W. LlTTLE- 
FIELD, of Massachusetts. 

[222] 



In the Carolinas 

To this General Sherman replied on Christ- 
mas Eve: 

''This war differs from European wars in 
this particular — we are not only fighting hos- 
tile armies, but a hostile people and must 
make old and young, rich and poor, feel the 
hard hand of war, as well as their organized 
armies. I will bear in mind your hint as to 
Charleston, and don't think salt will be neces- 
sary. When I move, the Fifteenth corps will 
be on the right of the right wing, and their 
position will bring them naturally into 
Charleston first and, if you have studied the 
history of that corps, you will have remarked 
that they generally do their work up pretty 
well. The truth is the whole army is burning 
with insatiable desire to wreak vengeance 
upon South Carolina. I almost tremble for 
her fate, but she deserves all that seems in 
store for her." 

It may readily be seen from the military 

dispatches that it Was the intention of the 

Federal commander to bring 

wlgiill V^ar ^ "P^^ ^^® people of the invaded 
country every possible hard- 
ship by depriving them of food, shelter, cloth- 
[223] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ing, medical supplies, and property of every 
kind. This policy was the reverse of the 
sentiments expressed by General Martin- 
dale* and nearly all of those who either felt 
similar sentiments naturally ,^ or who were in- 
spired by the attitude of President Lincoln, 
Generals McClellan, McDowell, Schofield, 
Thomas, Warren, Sedgwick, Hancock, and 
many other high officers in the Union Army.f 
The inherent humanity and true Ameri- 
can ideals of certain officers and soldiers 
saved something for the Southern people to 



*See p. 42. 

fAt Gettysburg, General Louis A. Armistead, who fell 
at the forefront of the great Confederate charge, and who 
was the real hero of that charge, fell mortally wounded into 
the hands of the Federals. On this occasion. General 
Hancock dismounted, grasped Armistead's hand, and ex- 
pressed his sympathy. He promised, also, to send messages 
to his friends in Virginia and attempted to cheer him 
with the hope that his wounds would not be fatal. Gen- 
eral Armistead lingered a day, despite his many wounds, 
and said at last: "Lay me down along side of General 
Hancock; we are old friends." General Armistead was a 
nephew of Colonel George Armistead, the commander at 
Fort McHenry, the successful defense of which inspired 
Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." 

It should be added that this story of Hancock and Arm- 
istead is taken from Luther W. Hopkins' "From Bull Run 
to Appomattox; A Boy's View," one of the most attractive 
volumes written in connection with the war between the 
States. Mr. Hopkins was a Confederate soldier and refers 
feelingly to the magnanimous among his former foes. 

[224] 



In the Carolinas 

build upon through the even more terrible 
days of a period of ''Reconstruction." It was 
in the wake of the worst element of Sherman's 
army that, along with their prayers for Lee 
and the Southern Confederacy, the blessings 
of Southern women and children went up to 
Heaven for the merciful among the con- 
querors, — their fellow- Americans.* 

Charleston, happily, was spared, and the 
dreaded Fifteenth Corps did not immediately 
visit and "by some accident" destroy that 
beautiful city. From Columbia, Sherman 



*It is most unfortunate that the name of Grant cannot 
be added to this list of those of the greater leaders who 
sought to lessen the horrors of war. It seems clear, how- 
ever, that while ultimately displaying a splendid magnan- 
imity at Appomattox that must evermore be a tribute to 
him, General Grant must have known of the terrible suf- 
ferings of the prisoners of war and of the desolation cre- 
ated by Sherman and Sheridan, if, indeed, he did not sanc- 
tion and encourage the forces of destruction. Let us be- 
lieve that he could not have fully realized the extent of 
this suffering, and tliat he conscientiously thought that 
final victory would be hastened by these processes, ignoring 
the present terror and the aftermath of bitterness. Such 
has been the cold philosophy of some commanders at other 
times and places. Because of his simple greatness at Ap- 
pomattox, therefore, it must be assumed that Grant did 
not realize what was being done, just as, during his eight 
years, as President, he refrained from checking the hor- 
rors of Reconstruction — now generally recognized to have 
been a process of despoliation and ruin carried on in times 
of peace under the guise of law and order. 

[225] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

inarched northward to Fayetteville on the 
way to Goldsboro, where he was to unite with 
General Schofield. 

On the tenth of March, less than a month 
after the burning of Columbia, Kilpatrick's 
cavalry overran Fayetteville, North Carolina, 
and the surrounding country. 
Incidents of the j^^ Manchester, these troopers 
Invasion of .-,., o mi 

North Carolina came upon the estate oi the 

aged Mr. Duncan Murchison. 
Here Miss Kate P. Goodridge and her sister 
were ^^refugeeing" from Norfolk. The Good- 
ridge family was originally from New Eng- 
land; but, like practically all New England 
settlers in the South, they were heart and 
soul with the cause of the Confederacy, and 
they bore privations with a heroism no less 
than the native Southerners. Five of the 
Goodridge family had enlisted in the Con- 
federate service.* 

As in the case of thousands of other pri- 
vate houses, the Murchison mansion was 



*General Albert Pike, of Arkansas, was of this num- 
ber of Northerners fighting with the South. Although born, 
in Boston and educated at Harvard, there was uo more 

[226] 



In the Carolinas 

thoroughly ransacked ; but many of the family 
valuables had been hidden so successfully 
that some of the soldiers became enraged at 
not securing greater booty; in spite of pro- 
tests, they burst into the room of a young girl 
who was in the last stages of typhoid fever. 
The child was taken from the bed in which 
she lay and died while the bed and the room 
were being searched for money and jewelry. 
An officer, whose name indicated foreign 
birth or extraction, was appealed to; but 
his answer to the Goodridge ladies was: 
"Go ahead, boys, do all the mischief you 
can. ' ' 

Although over seventy years old, Mr. 
Murchison, a kinsman of Sir Roderick Murch- 



ardent champion of the Confederacy. He was the author 
of the verses: 

"What, what is the true Southern Symbol, 

The Symbol of Honor and Eight, 
The Emblem that suits a brave people 

In arms against number and might; 
'Tis the ever green stately Magnolia, 

Its pearl-flowers pure as the Truth, 
Defiant of tempest and lightning. 

Its life a perpetual youth." 

Several members of the Northern branch of the Good- 
ridge (or Goodrich) family fought for the Union, but not 
in the way of the uncontrolled element under Sherman, 
Hunter, and, at times, Sheridan and Pope. 

[227] 



The Women of the South m War Times 

ison, was threatened with deatli; but Miss 
Phoebe Goodridge fell on her knees and 
begged for his life. Consequently, the soldiers 
refrained from carrying out their threat, but 
dragged Mr. Murchison, half -clad, into the 
nearby swamps, where he was compelled to 
stay until the raiders had gone away. The 
troopers slashed the family portraits with 
their swords, broke up much of the furniture, 
and poured molasses into the piano. Every- 
thing in the nature of food was destroyed. 
Cattle and poultry were driven off or shot. 
All granaries of corn and wheat were torn 
open and the contents carried off or ruined. 
Consequently, the members of the family 
were, like many of the women of Georgia and 
South Carolina, compelled to live on scattered 
grains left by the cavalry horses, which they 
washed and made over into what they called 
**big hominy." 

In this carnival of destruction, it should be 
noted that not one act of vandalism Avas re- 
corded against the happy record of over five 
hundred negroes of this and adjoining es- 
tates, although they were given every incen- 
tive to rise up and pillage and possess 
[ 228 ] 



In the Carolinas 

the property of the helpless women. The 
Murchins on plantation was twelve miles from 
the town of Fayetteville. 

In connection with the story of this cav- 
alry raid, it may be added that Mrs. Monroe, 
a woman of Scotch blood and a dependent of 
the Murchison family, w^as given a very val- 
uable watch for safe-keeping. In some man- 
ner, the raiders heard of it. They visited Mrs. 
Monroe and although they choked her into 
insensibility, they failed to get the watch. 
After the raid, the faithful woman returned 
the watch to Miss Goodridge, trimphantly 
exclaiming : ' ^ They nae got it ! they nae got 
it!" When complimented on her bravery, 
she replied: ''There is but one time to die 
and it might as well be now."* 



*There is an interesting anecdote of a Miss Tillinghast 
of the town of Fayetteville. Miss Tillinghast, like the 
Goodridges, was of New England parentage. While her 
house was being ransacked, she stood on the steps and, 
with true Puritan fervor, read, for the benefit of her un- 
welcome visitors, the 109th Psalm, wherein the Psalmist 
commends the thought that the days of the unmerciful "be 
few" and that their names "ie blotted out," 



[229] 



XXI 

DESPOLIATION AND PROTECTION 

As illustrating some form of contrast to 
the story given above, a grateful tribute to 
a Federal officer is paid at the close of the 
/ following story by Mrs. J. Henry Smith, who 
has given her reminiscences to the editor and 
who was happy in thus voluntarily paying a 
tribute to a true type of American officer 
who held evil forces in check and did what he 
could to mitigate the horrors of invasion con- 
nected with an element of mercenaries 
licensed to outrage by G-eneral Sherman. 
Mrs. Smith writes from Greensboro, the 
scene of one of the great Revolutionary bat- 
tles, which had tested the courage and endur- 
ance of her ancestors only less than her own 
courage and that of her associates was tested 
in the war which burst upon them nearly one 
hundred years later. Mrs. Smith writes: 

Looking back through the mists of more 

than fifty years it is hard to catch and keep 

the trend of events in their ceaseless and 

rapid march; but the years of the terrible 

[ 230 ] 



Despoliation and Protection 

tragedy of the War between the States are 
indelibly graven upon our hearts, homes, and 
country. 

In 1861, Greensboro was a peaceful ham- 
let of about 2,000 souls, but when the tocsin 
of war sounded at Sumter, the Revolutionary 
blood in the veins of our people leaped into 
instant action. In the dark time of infinite 
endurance that followed, the women suffered 
and shared the fears and hopes of the im- 
pending battles, the harrowing days, the hope- 
less nights, the dread to-morrows. 

The noble army of the Red Cross had not 
then unfurled its banner to the world, and 
the unspeakable blessing of hospitals and 
trained nurses was as yet unkno^vn. More 
pitiful than all was the absence of anesthetics. 
Yet in this painful lack of equipment, the 
self-sacrifice, the ingenuity, and faithful ser- 
vice of our women made what amends were 
possible. A central room was established 
where quilting and sewing were daily and 
diligently done. Every piece of old linen was 
scraped and cherished, bandages made, 
carpets taken up ; and all blankets, clothing, 
food, and whatever could be given up for the 
[231] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

comfort of the boys were sent to the camps. 
A little amateur band of canteen workers met 
the trains bearing the wounded, often in th© 
darkness of the night, with such refresh- 
ments as they could provide for the weary 
men, and in these fleeting moments of loving 
ministry precious items of news from home 
and camp and friends were eagerly sought 
and given ere the train sped onward. Weary, 
footsore, and needy soldiers were daily pass- 
ing through to be clothed, fed, and com- 
forted; and whenever the Danville train 
came in with grey-coats on board, it was a 
signal to broil bacon, bake cornbread, and set 
out all the milk one could lay hands on — ^the 
only delicacies we could then afford. In this 
labor of love all our hearts were sore with 
suspense and foreboding for husbands, sons, 
and brothers on the firing line, not knowing 
what a day or even an hour might bring 
forth ; and many homes were darkened as the 
casualties fell pitilessly here and there. 

I recall that on one occasion an ambulance 

stopped at our gate and the driver asked if 

we could take in a very sick man. He proved 

to be the young son of E-ev. Dr. Goulding, 

[ 232 ] 



Despoliation and Protection 

author of **The Young Marooners," a book 
so dear to every boy's heart. His condition 
was pitiable and unspeakable. For weeks he 
had been confined on a prison ship on the 
coast, and fed on sour corn bread and pickles 
until life was almost extinct. But he was 
young, and nourishing food and care began 
at length to tell on his emaciated body. Be- 
fore six weeks had passed, he was sitting up 
and planning how to get to his home in 
Georgia. 

One afternoon as he sat on the porch, a 
company of cavalry passed down the street; 
a man leaped from his horse, quickly tied it, 
and came clanking up the walk ; in a moment, 
long parted brothers were clasped in each 
other's arms. 

But it was on March 19, 1865, the date of 
the battle of Bentonsville, that the war in its 
stem and startling reality came to, our very 
doors. On that memorable night, without 
warning or preparation, the wounded were 
brought to Greensboro in such numbers as to 
fill the churches, court house, and every avail- 
able space in the town. To that clarion call, 
the women of Greensboro responded with one 
[233] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

accord. All else was forgotten as with tender 
hearts and eager hands they sought to make 
the poor fellows comfortable in their hastily 
improvised beds and comfortless quarters. 
That night in the old Presbyterian Church 
and Lecture Room, I saw the first wounded 
(and dying and witnessed the grief of their 
comrades. When I went back the next morn- 
ing, death had settled its seal on many a 
noble form as they lay in a semi-circle around 
the pulpit in the last long sleep that knows no 
waking nor the rude alarms of war. 

In this great emergency, the town was at 
once divided into districts and the women of 
each neighborhood fed from their o^vn tables 
the body of soldiers nearest them. Daily 
their waiters threaded the town, and daily the 
interest in these dear boys grew, as out of 
their own poverty they ministered to their 
needs. But supplies of every kind in the 
South were getting alarmingly low, and none 
coming in, and all unawares to these devoted 
workers, the Confederacy of their love was 
nearing its end. Then, like a thunderbolt out 
of a clear sky, came the news of Lee's sur- 
render at Appomattox. 

[ 234 ] 



Despoliation and Protection 

On April 26, 1865, the Federal troops took 
possession of Greensboro, 30,000 strong. Gen- 
eral Cox commanding. The Confederate sol- 
diers were all transferred to Edgeworth Sem- 
inary, and onr occupation was gone; but we 
were allowed to visit them there, and the old 
historic mansion with its beautiful grounds 
witnessed many a glad greeting and sorrow- 
ful parting, for these were times that tried 
alike the souls of men and women. 

On Sunday morning a mounted official from 
headquarters called early, bringing orders to 
my husband to preach at the usual hour in 
the little Baptist church near the station. As 
we passed along, every corner, doorway, and 
street was crowded Avith Federal troops, and 
the whole world looked blue in unison with 
our feelings that bitter morning. I sat 
through the service in blinding tears, not only 
because of our humiliation, but lest in sermon 
or prayer some word might be spoken from 
the turbulent heart of the speaker to cause 
his arrest. 

Greensboro, however, was fortunate in hav- 
ing at the helm a Christian gentleman and 
Presbyterian elder. General Cox ruled wisely 
[235] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

and well. In all cases of trespass and com- 
plaint he was reasonable and just. Guards 
were furnished to any family on request, and 
indispensable they were when spring vege- 
tables ventured to lift their heads ; as that, in 
field and town, some semblance of the old life 
again began. Our old Southern songs kept 
alive the precious heritage of the past, while 
all braced themselves for coming terrors of 
which we then had little conception. 

CAMOUFLAGE AGAINST EACDEKS 

The reminiscences of Mrs. Rachel Pearsall, 
;while they cannot be here given in full, fur- 
nish an admirable illustration of the ingen- 
uity of the women and the faithfulness of the 
greater number of the slaves, or, as they were 
usually called, servants. 

Mrs. Pearsall lived on a farm near Ken- 
ansville, Dublin County, the site of one of 
the most important factories for the making 
of swords or sabres in the South. Mrs. 
Pearsall writes : 

When our soldiers were off, we began to 
prepare to make a living. The old men man- 
aged most of the affairs, and in our part of 
[ 236 ] ^ 



Despoliation and Protection 

the County we got along fairly well until the 
Yankees began to come up from the eastern 
part of the State and make raids on us. Then 
what a time we poor women had ! 

The first thing they did was to demand the 
keys of the jailer at Kenansville. They then 
liberated the prisoners and burned the sword 
factory; they surprised some soldiers in 
camp there and took prisoners. They then 
went from Kenansville to Warsaw, taking all 
the horses along the way, cutting the tele- 
graph wire, and destroying everything 
possible. 

Of the close of the war, Mrs. Pearsall 
writes : 

I remember that near the close of the war, 
we heard of Sherman being on his march. 
Fearing that he might come our way, we be- 
gan preparing for it by hiding our valuables. 
Our first thought was for our silver and 
jewels. These we hid ourselves, not even our 
servants knew their hiding place, — ^then we 
hid most of the meat. 

I had two faithful old servants in whom I 
confided ; I had them get the largest box they 
[237] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

could find and bury it in the garden. "We 
picked out the choicest sides of meat and 
packed it full. The darkies said, ' ' Missus, de 
sides will do us so much mo' good dan de 
hams and shoulders, fur dey will do ter cook 
de cabbage and greens fur er long time." 

We nailed up the box, covered up the hole, 
and planted the garden over it. When the 
Yankees came, our vegetables were several 
inches high. They dug in the ground every- 
where else in their wild hunt for valuables, 
but they never suspected the garden. Be- 
sides the ' ' rescue ' ' of the sides, I saved twen- 
ty-seven hams without any assistance. I hid 
them under the landing of the staircase lead- 
ing to the garret. I had Mr. Pear sail's gun 
hidden in there too, but took it out later, 
wrapped it in a buggy robe, and old "Uncle 
Eobin, ' ' my most trusted servant, hid it in a 
hollow tree. We had a nice new set of double 
harness which I saved by carrying it in the 
night to the house of our faithful black 
mammy, Phyllis. We took up some planks of 
the fioor, put it under, and nailed them back. 
I hid my watch, chain, and jewels in a tin box 
that was wrapped in cloth that I had dipped 
[238] 



Despoliation and Protection 

in wax. My silver knives, forks, and spoons, 
I put in a stone jar and tied the vv^axed clotli 
over the mouth, then dug a hole in the middle 
of a large hen house and buried it. I tried to 
pick out places to hide my things where I 
knew I could find them when it was all over. 

All of our servants remained faithful ex- 
cept the cook. She declined to take any part 
in the hiding of our things, her excuse for not 
helping was fear of the Yankees. I was 
afraid she would prove disloyal. Sure 
enough, when the Yankees came, she de- 
manded the smoke house key of me and gave 
them all the meat we had not hidden, then 
emptied the pantries. 

I had just made up all our tallow into four- 
teen dozen candles. The men took them, but 
as they were carrying them out of the house, 
the nurse grabbed one out of the box. This 
was the only thing left to light my house ex- 
cept the pine from woods. 

The raid lasted for three weeks, and the 
cook fed the Yankees on the best she could 
find at my house and cooked for them what 
they brought in from other homes in the 
neighborhood. 

[239] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

They pillaged the house from cellar to at- 
tic, opened every drawer, closet, and trunk, 
taking such things as suited them. 

They treated my father-in-law worse than 
they did me, and took all the ladies' best 
clothes and what silver they could find. My 
Aunt, who had been brought to my father-in- 
law's for protection, was sick in bed. The 
Yankees thought she was playing sick and 
that something was hidden in that bed. They 
snatched her off and threw her down on the 
floor so they could tumble the bed upside 
do"\^Ti. They found father's best suit which 
had been hidden there. All the beautiful 
quilts which had been made by the older mem- 
bers of the family and were highly prized 
were put on the old sore back mules and 
horses and carried off. They brought out 
father's nice carriage, filled it full of meat, 
made the servants dress chickens and turkeys, 
which they hung all around the carriage, then 
hitched two mules to it and drove away. They 
had taken the beautiful carriage horses off. on 
the previous day. 

After the first lot of Yankees came, my 
cook informed me that she could not work for 
[240] 



Despoliation and Protection 

me any longer, that they had threatened to 
kill her if she continued to do so. I told her 
that I wouldn't have her cook foi anything 
as I didn't want any harm to come to her. 

There was a good, free negro woman liv- 
ing on the place and I said to her, ' ' Matilda, 
will you cook for me?" 

''Dat I will, Miss Rachel, I'll be glad ter 
git sumpin' to cook." 

This made the old cook furious with me, for 
she thought she would have the pleasure of 
seeing me cook. She made many threats on 
our lives, including Matilda, the new cook, 
who for protection had asked to sleep in my 
house. 

After the Yankees quit coming, I felt we 
must be doing something toward making a 
crop. Part of the land had been prepared 
for planting before the Yankees had taken 
the horses off. One day I told Matilda that 
if I only knew how to do it, we would go out 
and plant the field of corn near the house. 
She said that she knew how and would be 
glad to help me. So with the help of a white 
girl, Betsy, who lived with me, we planted 
the corn. Matilda dug the holes, I dropped 
[241] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the corn, and Betsy covered it with a hoe. I 
thought that if I went to work, it would stim- 
ulate the negro men to take up their duties 
again. The people of Kenansville hired Fed- 
eral guards to protect their homes during the 
raid and after it was over some of them went 
out through the country to see how the people 
had fared. They had heard of the awful 
threats of a few of the negroes. 

One had heard of the threats of my old 
cook. He came to see her about.it and she 
acknowledged she had said all he had heard, 

but that she didn't intend to 
An Unex- burn up ' ' Miss Rachel" and do 

pectedly ^.j^g things she had threatened. 

Federal ^ plead for her for I thought he 

Protector intended to give her a good 

whipping, and I knew it would 
he worse for me after that. He told me to 
go into the house. I went, and tried to take 
her with me, but the guard ordered her to go 
behind the barn. Just then I heard one of 
my neighbors coming down the road and I 
ran out to the front gate and plead with him 
to interfere. While I was talking to him I 
heard a gun fire and he said, "It's too late, 
[ 242 ] 



Despoliation and Protection 

he has killed her." The guard sent to the 
field for the negro men to come to the house 
and ordered them to bury her on the spot 
where she had been killed. When he had left, 
they, obeying my instructions, made a coffin, 
dressed her in her best clothes, and gave her 
a decent burial. 

He told me he wasn't going to leave me 
there at the mercy of the negroes and asked 
me where I wanted to go. My father-in-law 
lived about a mile and a half away, so I de- 
cided to go there. He ordered the men to 
hitch up a horse to a buggy to take me. They 
told him the Yankees had taken all the horses 
and every vehicle. So he offered to take me 
on his fine saddle horse. I had old ''Mammy 
Phyllis ' ' to get together a few clothes for my 
two little children. When I was ready, my 
neighbor saw that I hesitated about getting 
on the guard's horse, so he said, "Mrs. Pear- 
sail, my horse is gentle, you get on, and I'll 
lead him to your father's." I mounted the 
horse and took the baby in my lap. My little 
boy, David, expected to ride on the horse with 
me, but the guard said, ' ' Come and ride with 
me, little man," to which David replied, *'I'm 
[243] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

afraid, you're a Yankee." The guard an- 
swering said, ''I wouldn't harm you for any- 
thing. Come and I'll take you to your grand- 
father's." We went and stayed until things 
were settled. I left my home in the hands of 
my faithful servants and when I returned, I 
found everything all right. 

I reasoned with the negroes about going to 
work and told them if they would plant and 
work the crop, I'd pay them for their ser- 
vices. They then went to work without the 
aid of horses or mules. 

One morning they informed me that they 
had heard that the Yankees had left some 
old mules and horses at a deserted camp near 
Faison, so I advised them to try to get some. 
They were lucky in finding a horse apiece 
and an old sore back mule for me. They were 
awful looking but improved with good treat- 
ment and made a fine crop. 

The negroes were working very well and 
were loyal to me when Mr. Pearsall came 
home in the early part of the summer of 1865. 
We were all so happy to have our loved ones 
back ! Very few from our neighborhood were 
killed, but a good many were in prison at the 
[244] 



Despoliation and Protection 

surrender and these did not get home for 
sometime afterwards. Notwithstanding our 
poverty, after the crops were laid by, we had 
a big picnic, to which all the soldiers and 
their families were invited. In the fall, when 
harvest time came, Mr. Pearsall divided the 
crops with the faithful negroes and gave 
each one some hogs, so they were able to start 
life for themselves. 



[245] 



XXII 

EXCERPTS FROM REMINISCENCES 
OF MRS. C. C. OPPENHEIM 

We shall not shrink, my brothers, but go forth 
To meet them, marshaled by the Lord of Hosts, 
And overshadowed by the mighty ghosts 
Of Moultrie and of Eutaw — who shall foil 
Auxiliars such as these? Nor these alone, 

But every stock and stone 

Shall help us; but the very soil, 
And all the generous wealth it gives to toil. 
And all for which we love our noble land, 
Shall fight beside, and through us ; sea and strand, 

The heart of woman, and her hand, 
Tree, fruit, and flower, and every influence, 

Gentle, or grave, or grand; 

The winds in our defence 
Shall seem to blow; to us the hills shall lend 

Their firmness and their calm; 
And in our stiffened sinews we shall blend 

The strength of pine and palm! 

— HJENEY TiMBOD. 

In that which follows, the editor has elimi- 
nated the more personal parts of Mrs. Pop- 
penheim's reminiscences in order best to 
present and preserve the historical. The ex- 
cerpts begin, therefore, subsequently to the 
news of the approach of the Federal Army 
[246] 



Reminiscences of Mrs. Poppenheim 

and when Mrs. Poppenheim and those de- 
pendent upon her had begun their fligiit from 
the neighborhood of Charleston in tlie face 
of the threat that the city would be razed and 
its site sown with salt. 

. . . At Florence, the confusion and 
crowd was terrible ; conflicting rumors flying 
everywhere; trains running all night; sol- 
diers hurried from place to place. When we 
reached King'ville, there was a long wait, and 
we did not realize the condition or the cause 
until we saw a great red glare in the sky 
towards Columbia. Sherman had reached 
Columbia, and the city was burning. 

The railroad was all torn up between King- 

ville and Columbia, and we must find a way 

to get around and above Columbia before 

Sherman and his army left. 

iiSm^Home ^^^^^ Fanny De Saussure and 

father, and the two Misses 

Drayton, were with me in the depot at King- 

ville. We all looked in dismay on the fire of 

burning Columbia, and felt a horror at the 

thought of Sherman and his army being 

there. The railroad being torn up, we could 

go no farther in that direction, but must find 

[247] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

a way to get above Columbia and strike the 
C. C. and A. E. R. at Blackstock, and cross the 
country to reach the home of your Grand- 
father Bouknight's, which I had left not 
less than three months before as a bride. 
We took the train for Camden, and saw 
one of the most gorgeous sunsets on the 
way; once there, we found a small hotel 
that could barely feed the hungry people 
on the piazzas. We all sat around a table 
in the small parlor, with dimly lighted 
tallow candles on it, and asked each other 
what was best to do. When we went to our 
room, fatigue and anxiety struggled, until 
finally we fell asleep under difficulties, and 
awoke. early in the morning to make hurried 
preparations for the day's journey, not know- 
ing where it would end. A two-horse wagon 
was secured (all other vehicles, carriages, 
buggies, and everything on wheels, had been 
driven out of town by people seeking places 
of safety), for the baggage — my six trunks 
and a few others belonging to the men of the 
party, who were wounded soldiers on fur- 
lough, and trying to reach their families in 
the up-country. . . . 
[ 248 ] 



Reminiscences of Mrs. Poppenheim 

. . . The trunks were piled on the 
wagon, and I was seated on one of the trunks, 
and Rachel, the maid near me. How queer I 
felt, riding through the streets 
Homr'^*^^ of Camden, seated on a trunk 

in a wagon! We traveled 
all day, cheering each other as best we could, 
the men walking and taking turns to rest 
themselves in the wagon. At night, we came 
to a deserted plantation house, with comforts 
and conveniences enough to give us a good 
night's rest. The family had hastily taken 
their flight, on hearing Sherman was burn- 
ing Columbia. Here we made ourselves com- 
fortable for the night. One of the party, a 
blockade runner, presented me with a five- 
pound package of green tea, which made a 
deep and lasting impression, as I had not 
tasted a cup of ^'bought tea'' for a year. . . 

. . . As we approached the old planta- 
tion home, a grand and glorious sunset spread 
out before us, giving pleasure and a topic of 
conversation to the thoughts of many ; to me 
it seemed a harbinger of joy and protection, 
a promise of safety; and I slept sweetly, 
dreaming the Everlasting Arms were still 
[249] 



The Women of the South in ]i'ar Times 

around lis. The morning came, bright, 
bahny and beautiful. I was happy, full of 
hope, and confident all would be well. I 
mounted my seat in the wagon as if I were 
going on a drive with a gay party in a coach, 
with four-in-hand. I had my world, my joy, 
my protector, by my side ; and there was no 
fear of danger, no dread of fatigue. . . . 

From here on Mrs. Poppenheim narrates 
her experiences from her diary of the times, 
from which quotations are here given : 

Feb. 19, 1815 — Sunday morning, ride 
through the place and lose our way for two 
miles; but it surely gives us a splendid view 
of the Hill; return and cross at Peay's ferry; 
a miserable road, a tiresome jolting in the 
wagon, and excitement grows greater every 
mile. Stop a few minutes at Mr. James Cald- 
well's. Dr. Kinloch kindly invites us in; his 
wife sends us a hot lunch, and we conclude to 
go on as far as possible, though every one is 
wild with excitement and hourly looking for 
the Yankees. Arrive at General Clayton's 
headquarters at dark; have a beautiful view 
of campfires ; all stop and doubt the safety of 
going on to Blackstock; Christie goes in to 
[250] 



Reminiscences of Mrs. Poppenheim 

see General Clayton, who advises him not to 
go on, as the Yankees are very near, and Kil- 
patrick's raiders all through the woods. All 
hopes are disappointed; with heavy hearts 
and tired limbs, we turn our course back to 
Liberty Hill as the only place of safety, there 
to remain until the Yankees pass through and 
we have a safe road. In the wagon until 10 
p. m. Stop at a large brick house — Dr. Hall's 
— and there we find two lunatics from the 
lunatic asylum in Columbia, placed there to 
preserve the house from destruction by the 
Yankees. It was a night of horrors ; the crazy 
woman walked into my room with a candle in 
her hand, after I was in bed, drew the cur- 
tains aside, and peered into my face to see if 
I was asleep, I suppose ; which I did pretend 
to be. We left the place bright and early, and 
felt that our escape from danger had been 
very narrow. A long tiresome day's ride; 
recross Peay's ferry; much excitement all the 
way; met many of Butler's men, and do not 
feel safe until we cross the ferry; joy that 
we have crossed the river. Arrive at Lib- 
erty Hill at 4 p. -m., put up at Mr. John 
Brown's; very kind people; large house, and 
[251] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

every appearance of abundant means; large 
grounds, and hundreds of poultry around, 

Tuesday, February 21st. — The excitement 
has even reached here, and the place that we 
thought, of all others, safest, seems to fear 
the Yankees; so we calmly resign ourselves 
to our fate of meeting them. 

February 22d. — Great anxiety ; many of the 
citizens send off trunks and bury all their val- 
uables. Mrs. Brown feeds a great many of 
our soldiers. Several scouts 
Raiders come in, and Christie wants to 

go to Columbia with one "Or- 
chard," who lives in Columbia. At 4 p. m. 
several horsemen came dashing in; we are 
eager for the news ; I beg Christie to go and 
hear; he had not left me five minutes before 
I saw the bluecoats and realized I had sent 
him to meet the Yankees. I ran to the front 
door and down the steps ; saw them halt him, 
then pass and seize a negro boy, take his 
horse and made him lead them to the lot. In 
a few moments, a band of ruffians, a wild, 
savage looking set, dashed in the house, into 
the dining-room, and swept all the silver from 
the table, that was set for dinner; ran up- 
[252] 



Reminiscences of Mrs. Poppenheim 

stairs, broke open doors, locks and drawers, 
and the utmost confusion prevailed ; the ham- 
mering sounded like one dozen carpenters 
at work, and soon all the floors were cov- 
ered with scattered papers, in their search 
for money and valuables. I go to the com- 
manding officer and ask for assistance; he 
promises protection. Christie and myself go 
upstairs ; my trunks broken open, and every- 
thing scattered in confusion over the floor. 
Oh! what a scene, impossible to describe! 
Money, jewelry and clothing of every descrip- 
tion taken by these demons ! Lieut. B. Ulrich 
gives us a guard, and stays himself in the 
house to protect us ; but little sleep for any of 
us this night. 

February 23d. — Thousands of Yankees 

coming in; one command follows another in 

quick succession; poor Mrs. Brown is robbed 

of provisions, silver, and 

a^ndMoksses ^l^^^^ everything; they go 
down in the cellar and pour 
kerosene oil, molasses and feathers all to- 
gether, then stir them up with their bayonets. 
Mrs. Brown and myself go out to meet Gen- 
eral Logan. What an awful feeling to come 
[ 253 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

so close to Imndreds of Yankees who are burn- 
ing and destroying everything on the face of 
the land! Several staff officers tell us Gen- 
eral Logan has just passed; but if we wait 
long enough, another corps will pass, and we 
can see General Wood. While waiting for 
the Yankees to pass, and looking on their fine 
horses, and hundreds of stolen cattle, the 
refugees from Columbia who followed Sher- 
man's army began to pass; among them, I 
recognized Mary Boozer and her mother in a 
carriage, she in a lively conversation with a 
gay looking officer riding by the carriage; the 
scene is so sickening, I beg Mrs. Brown to let 
us return; waiting for the general won't pay. 

Friday, February 24th. — To-day, Yankees 
throng the house, search and take what others 
left. They ask Christie repeatedly how he 
keeps out of the army. Mrs. Bro^^^l and my- 
self again go out and wait to see the general, 
but again he has just passed; the staff offi- 
cers whom we meet look and speak as heart- 
less as stones. Another sleepless night of 
suspense. 

Saturday, February 25th. — Still they go 
through — hundreds and thousands — all gay- 
[ 254 ] 



Reminiscences of Mrs. Poppenheim 

ety, with bands of music, and burning houses 
light their march; last night we could count 
twelve burning residences; and imagine the 
horror of those who dwelt in them. Mr. 
Brown's large mill burnt.* 

Tuesday, February 28th. — Still harrassed 
by the Yankees, and spend sleepless nights, 
seeing the skies lit by burning fires ; at mid- 
night, the Academy is in flames, 

mafk^Sead ^^^^ ^^® expect every moment 
to see the flames burst out 
from the house we are in ; once a vile Yankee 
was caught with the torch applied ; the flames 
were put out, and I appealed to an officer to 
give us a guard for the night. 

Wednesday, March 1st. — Dr. Robert Kin- 
loch and Lieutenant Swinton Bissell come in 
quite early and tell us of their escape from 
the Yankees, after having marched several 
days through mud knee deep. The Yankees 

*Part8 of Mrs. Poppenheim's diary are here and later 
omitted for the reason that the sufferings and privations 
are too harrowing for present publication and because the 
conditions described may too easily be misinterpreted as 
an indictment of all the Federal forces. Some of the 
writer's relatives then serving in the Union army en- 
deavored to prevent the terrible excesses of certain ele- 
ments which General Sherman at times encouraged rather 
than restrained. 

[255] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

were pushing rapidly for Camden. We are 
starving here; have nothing left to eat but 
sorghum molasses and black shorts bread. 
Sherman's army has left no living thing on 
their route; nothing but blackened chimneys 
and smoking ruins mark his path from Co- 
lumbia here; pillage, robbery, fire, and ruin 
marked their footsteps; a sigh of relief 
and a prayer of thankfulness that our lives 
were spared was breathed as we saw the last 
Yankee soldier disappear from the devastated 
little village. 



. [256] 



XXIII 
THE BURNING OF COLUMBIA* 

The advance of Sherman, and the imper- 
fect breastworks along the Congaree River, 
drove a large number of people from that 
locality, seeking shelter in other parts. They 
came like a heavy tide upon us. We gave 
them the large drawing room and several 
other adjoining places for a night's rest. The 
feeling of terror and distress seemed to wear 
off as they found themselves sheltered in 
these comfortable quarters ; and, as the even- 
ing advanced, we were amused by the noise 
and merriment of these refugees. The near 
approach of shells and the incessant cannon- 
ading drove them, however, at the dawn 
of day, to more distant places, while we 
remained. 

I must recur now to the earlier part of 
Thursday, when Captain Strawinski, one of 
the exiles of the Polish revolution of 1830, 



*Told by Madame S. Sosnowski, a lady of Poland and 
a noted teacher at Barhamville College, two miles north 
of Columbia. 

[257] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

wished to speak to me; lie was our near 
neighbor, and for several years a teacher in 
our institutions at Barhamville and Colum- 
bia. He informed me that Captain A — * 
the son of an honored Governor of South 
Carolina, had charged him with the protec- 
tion of Mrs. A — , his lady, and his widowed 
sister. This surprised me considerably, as 
Captain Strawinski had a large family of his 
own to care for. But I presently learned that 
this was at the command of a superior Free 
Mason to a brother Mason. He requested that 
these ladies should find a refuge with us, and 
I assented, of course, most cheerfully — trust- 
ing, nay, even certain, that we should not be 
much molested. This was my opinion as a 
European lady, who relied upon the honor of 
the military profession in respecting women 
and private property. 

In asking for our friend's own family, he 
confessed that he felt great anxiety regard- 
ing his daughter; the boys, quite a number, 
would take care of their mother. We begged 
he would send Miss Bell to us, also; and with 
her our number became larger, and we found 



*Captain Adams. 

[258] 



Burning of Columbia 

her a true Polish woman in courage and de- 
termination. 

Sherman had now taken his position op- 
posite Columbia, and the shelling and can- 
nonading were incessant. 

Like a man who catches at any appearance 
of help, we followed the advice of Mr. Straw- 
inski, to have a Free Mason's flag (very 
hastily manufactured) on the front door and 
rear passages ; and they received soon after 
the curses of several troops of soldiers, say- 
ing but for those ' ' rags ' ' the house would be 
burnt to ashes at any moment. 

We who for the first time witnessed a de- 
feated army, and the distress of the men flee- 
ing from the enemy, felt great sympathy for 
them. A number of our most respected citi- 
zens gave us, in passage, affectionate mes- 
sages for their friends, and to us a kind fare- 
Avell, whilst we already heard the drum and 
the din of the entering enemy ; and the work 
of the incendiary had already begun. 

How prearranged the burning of Columbia 
must have been was proved by the scatter- 
ing of Sherman's soldiers in every direction. 
These soldiers were led by negroes, who not 
[259] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

only guided them, but by whom they must 
have been already informed of the residences 

of "prominent Rebels." The 
^e"columbia"" ^^g^rness and confidence by 

which these creatures, who 
called themselves soldiers, were animated, 
was astonishing. They flew about inquiring, 
* * Is this the home of Mr. Ehett ? ' ' pointing in 
the right direction; or ''Is that the dwelling 
of Mr. Middleton?" also indicating exactly 
the locality, with many other like questions. 
It was surprising to see the readiness with 
which these incendiaries succeeded in their 
work of destruction. They had hardly passed 
out of sight when columns of smoke and 
flames arose to bring the sad news that an- 
other home had been sacrificed to the demon 
of malice and arrogance. It was in the mid- 
dle of the day which witnessed the Federal 
entrance into it, when Columbia was already 
enveloped in an overshadowing cloud of 
smoke, and the flames were already rising 
like columns of fire from a volcano. The ter- 
rible spectacle grew more harrowing as night 
set in, and although we lived over one mile 
from that city, yet from the roof of the Bar- 
[260] 



Burning of Columbia 

hamville building the whole town of Colum- 
bia could be plainly and distinctly discerned. 
Through the exertions of Dr. Marks, the 
proprietor of Barhamville, who had re- 
mained in the town, guards were procured, 

who, during the day, barely 
Se^Women Succeeded in protecting us 

from the many attemps of the 
soldiery to rifle and burn the female college. 
Our protectors proved of unequal tempera- 
ments and dispositions, as soldiers. Only one 
may be said to have been active in the dis- 
charge of his duty, and, if my readers will 
pardon a slight digression from the main 
narrative, this was owing to a concurrence of 
circumstances at once touching and amusing. 
The sight was very grand, for it was a 
large mansion, and quite near to Barham- 
ville; but grander and more impressive was 
the heroic calmness with which the ladies of 
this mansion contemplated the destruction 
of the old homestead of their family, with all 
that wealth and desire for comfort had been 
enabled to accumulate. These ladies stood 
perfectly composed upon the rear of our 
piazza. 

[261] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Finding the guard to whom I refer pleas- 
ant and kindly inclined (the other two were 
dogged, mean-looking men), we entered into 
conversation with him about his political 
views, his native State, and found that he 
was a Tennessean, and resided at Knoxville. 

This brought to our mind the recollection 
of the Rev. Mr. H — , whose acquaintance we 
had made some years since — a gentleman who 
combined with genuine piety high cultivation 
and refinement. We made inquiries regard- 
ing our friend, and were informed by our 
new protector that Mr. H — had died before 
the war, and that his father (the guard's) 
had furnished the coffin on the sad occasion. 

Owing to that simple connection of facts 
we found a sympathizing protector and 
friend, without whom we should have been 
that night subjected to who knows what suf- 
fering! — certainly to the loss of all we 
possessed. 

Columbia was then enveloped in one sheet 
of flame ; w^e could hear the cries and lamenta- 
tions of the people, even at this great dis- 
tance. It was a terrible night! Soon the 
building of Captain A — , whose wife and 
[262] 



Burning of Columbia 

sister had taken refuge with us, was set on 
fire by the soldiers ; they watched the flames 
as they rose; but there was a deeper anxiety 
in their hearts ; their minds followed the re- 
treat of their husband and brother, and the 
flight of their daughters, who were subse- 
quently overtaken by the invaders and sub- 
jected to great hardship and mortification. 

Whilst with horror and indignation we 
watched all these scenes, Mr. Strawinski 
rushed towards us, in a greatly excited state 
of mind. He had remained at 
iTmtt^ttf his post at Captain A-'s resi- 
dence until convinced that 
nothing could be saved by his intervention. 
No appeals on his part could divert the fury 
of the soldiery. The scenes enacted at that 
dwelling in connection with the negro ser- 
vants are not fit for female pen to dwell 
upon, . . . 

. . . The negroes informing the sol- 
diers of some valuable wines stored away, 
thus was given the signal for general bac- 
chanalia. When the intoxicated servants 
disclosed to the reveling soldiery the hiding 
place of the family silverware and other val- 
[263] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

nables, the tumult reached its height. Sus- 
picion seemed to have taken hold of the 
minds of the soldiers that poison might be 
mixed Avitli the tempting bottles. Before they 
tasted, Mr. Strawinski was first compelled 
to drink of each kind. Being a temperate 
man, and totally averse to low associations, 
he resisted, but with threats and blows, he 
was compelled to yield. At last, the negroes 
themselves became thoroughly disgusted, and 
although enriched by the booty the soldiers 
could not carry off — which was generously 
given them by the robbers — they vowed 
vengeance for the base treatment their 
women had been subjected to. 

Now, a wave of that corrupted mass, in- 
flamed by liquor and every other excess, 
moved towards our home, Barhamville. 

There were about eighty men. 
:^U^^"^^°"^ They were led by a tall negro 

— one of those towering in- 
dividuals w^e meet sometimes. He held in one 
hand a torch; in the other a large cowhide; 
and he demanded of me to examine the base- 
ment, partly open, as they knew Captain 
A — 's lady had hidden some valuables here. 
[264] 



Burning of Columbia 

The ladies being too much frightened, only 
one of my daughters could come to my assist- 
ance. The other had to guard the front door 
of the building, whilst some of the ladies en- 
deavored to wake up the guards, who had 
gone to sleep (it was then eleven o'clock.) 

This attempt we resisted — by what power 
I do not now understand, for we were in a 
vast crowd of, shall I say men, or furious 
beasts'? — until our Tennessean friend came 
to our assistance. The other guards pre- 
tended to be still asleep. 

It was some time before that rabble could 
be made to understand that there was a Fed- 
eral soldier present ; and only after he struck 
his bayonet violently upon the ground, threat- 
ening to report them for contempt of military 
orders, did they slink away. Still, party 
after party came upon the grounds, looking 
with malicious eyes upon the large building, 
so tempting to their cupidity. 

Toward two o'clock in the morning, we 
heard the blows of axes, and seeing lights in 
the direction of our stables, a considerable 
distance from the main bulding, I hastened to 
the spot. Under ordinary circumstances such 
[265] 



The Women of the SontJi' hi' War Times 

an muloriakiiip: Avonld have caiisod gToat 
liesiiatioii of mind; but wo woro aroused to 
isuc'li a de^-ree ol' energy and indignation that 
we had become nnmindl'ul of our personal 
safety. I found at the stables more than 
twenty men, Avith torches, axes, and their 
muskets. They mhm-o partly intoxicated, and 
seemed to look fai>i;ed out after their day's 
work of destruction. AVhen I appeared, they 
looked with astonishment at the coming of a 
single lady, and really seemed then ashamed 
of thoniseh-os, as well th(\y might be. I 
asked them, "Wliat are you, thieves or sol- 
diers?" and told them, furthermore, that 
every person of honor must consider them a 
disgrace to the military profession ; although 
I felt in my heart that they had not the slight- 
est conception o\' such a sentiment. I still 
remember with cousiderable anuisement the 
attitude of that crowd, and the reply of the 
chief leader: *'Yes, ma'am; yes, ma'am," 
to all I said. When our East Tennessean 
came to my assistance, the axes of the assail- 
ants were already at rest. 

The following morning, an individual en- 
tered the house with the air of a conqueror. 
[ 206 1 



Burning of Columbia 

It was a Mr. McDowell, a bloated, lymphatic- 
looking man. He had nothing of manly polite- 
ness about him ; he was either destitute of that 
natural deference which a gentleman pays to 
ladies, or, in the style of General Butler, he 
considered ladies in sympathy with the South- 
ern cause unworthy of his urbanity. What- 
ever, though, his views or feelings were, he 
behaved very rudely. 

It was that very officer who afterwards ex- 
I^ressed his opinion at his headquarters that 
he did not know why these European ladies 
should have that place left standing, when 
every other building in the neighborhood had 
been destroyed ; and we believed that our re- 
newed ti'oubles were caused by that same 
individual. 

During Saturday and Sunday the Char- 
lotte railroad was broken up, and we were 
continually molested. Drunken and in- 
furiated soldiers, some with 
Harangue^ saber in hand, endeavored to 

open the side doors. Another 
hour brougnt a party of soldiers who were in- 
clined to harangue us on political questions. 
One 9mong them, evidently not very fanat- 
I 267 I 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ical on the negro question, made a regular 
stump speech, in which he endeavored to 
demonstrate that this country was destined 
only for the white man, and that the Indian, 
as well as the negro, had to be, or in the course 
of events would be, exterminated; further- 
more, he expressed his own wish to have the 
entire negro race on an immense platform 
and power sufficient to blow them all to atoms. 
This latter remark was received with repeated 
cheers by his companions-in-arms. ... 

. . . We were soon contending with a 
half-drunken set of men at the main entrance 
of the building, using arguments and display- 
ing firmness in jDreventing them from enter- 
ing the house, when our faithful shepherd 
dog, Cora, was seen running through the 
house, and testified by whining and anxious 
ways that there must be something wrong at 
the rear of the building. Some of us fol- 
lowed our friend, and, to our astonishment, 
found that some party had thrown fire brands 
under the stairs, which had already caught 
fire. With the assistance of our servants, we 
were enabled to extinguish the fire; but we 
then despaired of success in resisting these 
[268] 



Burning of Columbia 

incendiaries, and were expecting every mo- 
ment to be compelled to leave the home we 
had no power to save. These marauders 
threatened to kill the cook should she not tell 
them where valuables or provisions were 
hidden. Others went into the houses of the 
poor negro women, cut and tore their bundles, 
and even cut their clothes wantonly to pieces ; 
and thus, unl'oi'tunately, our box with silver, 
containing many old family relics, fell into 
the hands of these vandals. 

Towards evening there arrived directly 
from Columbia a number of officers ; and see- 
ing one of them wearing a Mason's breastpin, 
told him that, being a Mason's 
Gallant Federal ^vidow, I held it to be his duty 
Officer Oflfers , I , o ,^ i 

Protection ^^ protect US irom the maraud- 

ers of his army. He seemed to 
hesitate; but, having for such an emergency 
Mr. Sosnowski's papers in hand, establish- 
ing his former connection with an American 
lodge, I placed them in his hands, again de- 
manding protection. The party, however, left 
without giving us a glimmer of hope, and we 
looked with terror upon the declining day, 
when, to our joy and relief, a young gentle- 
[ 269 1 



The Women of the South in War Times 

man came on a horse, telling us that a squad 
of men would presently arrive, and that we 
should not be disturbed that night. 

Words could not express our relief and 
gratitude. The young man, evidently of re- 
finement,, received with great satisfaction the 
demonstrations of relief our little party ex- 
pressed. We gave him full leave to walk 
through the building, and being young, his 
imagination perhaps depicted to him all the 
lovely Southern young ladies who only a short 
time since made these halls resound with their 
musical exercises and cheerfulness. The 
promised gTiard arriving, they prepared their 
supper, to which we loaned all the assistance 
we could. Feeling comparatively at ease, we 
watched with interest the regular lights which 
lit up the entire horizon (as far as our view 
permitted) with the campfires of Sherman's 
army. 

With the daA\ni of day, the reveille called 

our guards away ; and we were reminded by 

the remarks of passing sol- 

A Visit ^ diers that the house was still 

to Columbia . , t t i • t n 

m danger. I determined, there- 
fore, to walk to Columbia (Sunday morning) 
[270] 



Buniiug of Colmnbia 

at an early hour to obtain a guard ; and soon 
after breakfast, accompanied by a few serv- 
ants, left Barhamville. The appearance of 
the citizens was despondent and weary. On 
reaching the Preston property, long the resi- 
dence of the father of General Wade Hamp- 
ton, I felt that I was in the midst of mili- 
tary life ; bnt I must here remark that it was 
not like meeting the martial bearing of 
trained soldiers, such as I have seen during 
graiid reviews in Europe. They appeared to 
me rather a kind of shambling set of men, 
squatting on the sidewalks, or in the squares 
made by the burned streets. It was diflicult 
to pass, as these cavaliers had no idea of 
giving way to a. lady.* 

The outer gate of General Preston's house 
was guarded by a soldier holding the United 
States flag. To my question if General How- 
ard or General Blair was in, the man could 
give me no satisfactory answer ... I passed 



*'niis was, of course, the baser element of the army, 
many of whom were doubtless camp followers, licensed 
for a time to despoil the "rebels." Some parts of Madame 
Sosnowski's narrative haA-e been eliminated as perhaps 
likely to convey a wrong impression of the Federal forces 
as a whole. 

[ 271 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

in, however, under another United States 
flag of immense size, floating over the front 
of the building. 

. . . The sitting-room which I entered 
was enlivened by various passing scenes. It 
was crowded with women of the lowest sort, 
arranging to go North with the army. Sev- 
eral officers came in with books and statuettes 
in their hands, evidently considering what to 
pack up among theii- booty. These were their 
war trophies. I wonder whether they are not 
now ashamed to possess them. 

Seeing no prospect of attaining what I 
came for, I left the place ; and now advancing 
through the city, the work of destruction met 
my eyes. 

It would have struck the most careless ob- 
servers that all around the localities where 
headquarters were established (these ar- 
rangements were made through loyal whites, 
before Sherman entered) no buildings were 
destroyed, nor were any attempts made to 
disturb the quiet enjoyment of Sherman and 
his officers during their stay in Columbia. 

The headquarters of General Wood being 
at the old family residence of Mrs. Lucy Pride 
[272] 



Burning of Columbia 

Green, we had only a few steps to reach it. 
We found the general surrounded by a motley 
crowd. Owing to some mistake of my friend, 
my object to obtain a guard was defeated. 
Although in manner the general was much of 
a gentleman, I was sorry to learn afterward 
that he stripped the old mansion of its paint- 
ings and many other valuables. 

Unsuccessful so far in obtaining a guard, 
I resolved to go to headquarters. Reaching 
that locality — Mr. Myers' property, corner 

of Gervais and Pickens streets 
Interview with _i found the street virtually 
Sherman obstructed by soldiers of every 

grade; every one brimful of 
importance. It would have been interesting, 
had time permitted, to study the various 
characters of that crowd. That guard, a 
stately Western man, held with great pride 
the often displayed flag of the Stars and 
Stripes; and being, no doubt, a good Union 
man, it was natural that he should uphold 
with considerable satisfaction the emblem of 
his country, as it was natural that I should 
at the time with deep regret look upon the 
same standard of the founders of this re- 
[273] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

public, then ^vaviug in triumpli over one of 
the blackest scenes of crime and desolation 
in the history of mankind. On being in- 
formed that General Sherman was in, I 
mounted the steps and found that gentleman 
giving directions to a soldier. My friend, 
Mr. AV — , having left me, I introduced my- 
self, and he politely led me into the apart- 
ment ^Yhere already a nnmber of persons had 
assembled. 

I stated to him my errand, which had so 
far been unsuccessful, the troubles which we 
had already passed th rough, at the same time 
expressing my surprise, even more, my in- 
dignation — at the course the army had pur- 
sued towards a conquered, unresisting, and 
surrendered city. I told him further that 
previous to the surrender of Columbia I had 
always expressed the opinion that we had 
nothing to fear except the accidents of war, 
(of which, though, I did not consider the de- 
liberate bnrning of a city) ; that in a civilized 
country battles would be fought, bnt private 
property and women wonld be protected, but 
instead of this a warfare was waged which 
wonld make it a disgrace to onr present his- 
[274] 



Burning of Columbia 

tory. He showed great temper, and said, 
"What do yon mean by that, madam?" to 
which I merely replied that I meant exactly 
what I had said. He then spoke in strong 
terms of the responsibility of Columbia, of 
South Carolina, of the sufferings caused by 
secession; indeed, as he only advocated one 
side of the question, he spoke well. In con- 
clusion, he said, '^You have suffered much al- 
ready, hut if I have to come hack again — " 
leaving his threat unfinished. 

To my request for a guard, General Sher- 
man assured me there would be no need, as 
he expected to leave the following morning, 
and therefore required the whole army to 
be at their posts. At this, I rose, saying that 
I would detain him no longer. He escorted 
me to the steps. 

On my return home, I met Dr. Fair. His 
looks were those of supreme suffering; and 
he gave me an account of the destruction of 
his property, a large block of tenement 
houses, the corner of which had been his own 
residence. In that home everything had been 
collected which refinement and comfort might 
desire. A long and successful practice had 
[ 275 ] 



The Wo}»c)i of the SoiifJi in War Times 



^ 



placed Dr. Fair in the rank of influential and 
Avealthy citizens. His wife being, during the 
fire, surrounded by a rude soldiery, en- 
deavored to save but one valuable article, 
and that was a portrait of a beloved mother. 
With this in her arms, she tried to make her 
escape from the flames and from the robbers, 
but she was not allowed to save even this, as 
a soldier cut the picture in pieces and only 
then allowed her to gain the street. 

I again entered General Preston's resi- 
dence, the headquarters of General Howard. 
At length, a young officer promised to send 
out a i^Tiard; but none came. 

fruitless. A^ itli the advancing 
night, however, we found an unexpected pro- 
tection, namely, a immber of Irishmen, a part 
of those of Sherman's troops he would not 
allow to enter Columbia; and this, as the 
men assured us, was to prevent them from 
protecting Roman Catholic property. 

The men had lost their way, and fearing 

to fall into an ambush, they entreated us not 

to expose them io danger. This unexpected 

arrival was a great relief, and we assured 

[2761 



Burning of Columbia 

them of perfect safety. We requested our 
faithful friend and housekeeper, Hannah, to 
give to them as substantial a supper as the 
stores permitted. The accounts of these men 
were really interesting, and as in such un- 
common scenes of life the susceptibility of 
men finds ample scope, there was a declara- 
tion of love, of love at first sight, before sup- 
per was over— the subject of which was, of 
course. Miss Hannah. 

Towards eleven we heard yells from the 
direction of Columbia, and through the woods 
advanced a crowd of soldiers towards our 
residence. We immediately called our new 
friends to our assistance. This startled the 
marauders, and they gradually slunk back 
in the shade of the forest. 

This was the end of our dangers from Sher- 
man's troops. We owed our safety, at least, 
to these warm-hearted Irishmen, and I think 
now without them our home would have 
shared that night the fate of all the residences 
for miles around us. 



277 



XXIV 
THE EIDE OF EMMA SANSOM 

In the spring of 1863, a great drive by 
Union Cavalry into the heart of the South 
was brought to naught largely by the cour- 
ageous act of a girl of sixteen. This young 
girl rode with General Nathan Bedford For- 
rest and braved the fire of Federal forces in 
order to show the Confederate cavalryman a 
little-known ford by which he could cross a 
stream that separated him from the Federal 
command he finally captured. 

This Federal expedition was the concep- 
tion of Colonel Abel D. Streight of the 51st 
Indiana Regiment. Major General W. S. 
Rosecrans pronounced it ' * a great enterprise 
fraught with great consequences. " It aroused 
the enthusiasm of Brigadier General James 
A. Garfield, afterward President of the 
United States. When it got under way in 
April, 1863, it not only excited the hopes of 
other high Federal officers, but, in equal meas- 
ure, alarmed the Confederates. 

Briefly, the object of the drive was to de- 
[ 278 ] 



Ride of Emma Sanso^n 

stroy Confederate supplies and to cut the 
Confederate communications between Chatta- 
nooga on the one side and Atlanta and Knox- 
ville on the other. Streight's raid and the' 
night and day pursuit of him led by Forrest 
covered the last days of April and the first 
of May, 1863. Finally, on the second of May, 
Streight was in sight of one of his goals and 
possible safety. It was on this day that 
Emma Sansom wrote her name in American 
history. 

Streight and his men had crossed the Chat- 
tanooga river, the bridge was on fire, and 
Federal cannon faced the oncoming Confed- 
erates. Emma Sansom 's home was near the 
burning bridge and it was she and her mother 
who told the Confederate leader that the 
bridge was burning and that the nearest 
bridge he could use was two miles away. 

Bullets were flying across the river and the 
two Sansom girls and their mother sought 
shelter in the house. Forrest, however, 
dashed up and asked if there were any way 
he and his men could cross the stream. Emma 
Sansom at once told him of a "lost ford'* 
above, known to the members of the Sansom 
[279] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

family, and that if he would have her saddle 
put on a horse, she would lead the way to it. 

Forrest replied ''There is no time to saddle 
a horse, get up here behind me. ' ' 

As Emma obeyed, her mother cried out to 
her ''Emma, what do you mean?" But as 
Forrest rode away, he called back: 

"She is going to show me a ford where 
I can get my men over in time to catch those 
Yankees before they get to Rome. Don't be 
uneasy; I will bring her back safe." 

Emma Sansom has told the rest of the story 
in her own words, as published in Dr. John 
A. Wyeth's "Life of General Nathan Bedford 
Forrest." 

"We rode out into a field through which 
ran a small ravine and along which there was 
a thick undergrowth that protected us for a 
while from being seen by the Yankees at the 
bridge and on the other side of the creek. 
This branch emptied into the creek just above- 
the ford. When we got close to the creek, I 
said : ' General Forrest, I think we had better 
get off the horse, as we are now where we 
may be seen.' We both got down and crept 
through the bushes, and when we were right 
[280] 



Ride of Emma Sansom 

at the ford I happened to be in front. He 
stepped quickly between me and the Yankees, 
saying: 'I am glad to have you for a pilot, 
but I am not going to make breastworks of 
you. ' The cannon and the other guns were fir- 
ing fast by this time, as I pointed out to him 
where to go into the water and out on the 
other bank, and then went back towards the 
house. He asked me my name, and asked me 
to give him a lock of my hair. The cannon- 
balls were screaming over us so loud we were 
told to leave and hide in some place out of 
danger, which we did. Soon all the firing 
stopped, and I started back home. On the 
way I met General Forrest again, and he told 
me that he had written a note for me and left 
it on the bureau. He asked me again for a 
lock of my hair, and as we went into the 
house he said : ' One of my bravest men has 
been killed, and he is laid out in the house. 
His name is Robert Turner. I want you to 
see that he is buried in some graveyard near 
here.' He then told me good-bye and got on 
his horse, and he and his men rode away and 
left us all alone. My sister and I sat up all 
night watching over the dead soldier, who 
[281] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

had lost his life fighting for our rights, in 
which we were overpowered, but never con- 
quered. General Forrest and his men en- 
deared themselves to us forever." 

Dr. Wyeth adds: 

''In less than thirty minutes from the time 
of Forrest's arrival at Black Creek, the artil- 
lery was up, and the Federals were driven 
away from the opposite bank. The ' lost ford ' 
was soon cleared and made passable. The 
cavalry went over, carrying by hand the am- 
munition from the caissons. The gnins and 
empty caissons, with long ropes tied to the 
poles, were then rolled by hand to the water's 
edge, one end of the rope taken to the top of 
the opposite bank and hitched to a double 
team of horses. In this original manner the 
artillery soon made a subaqueous passage to 
the east bank. The advance-guard had al- 
ready hurried on after the raiders, who, to 
their great surprise, were hustled out of 
Gadsden, less than four miles distant from 
Black Creek bridge, before they could do 
much damage to the small commissary sup- 
plies there. Another all-night march now 
became necessary for General Streight, al- 
[ 282 ] 



Ride of Emma 8ansom 

though he says 'The command was in no con- 
dition to do so. I only halted at Gadsden 
sufficiently long to destroy a quantity of arms 
and stores found there, and proceeded. Many 
of our animals and men were entirely worn 
out and unable to keep up, and were captured. 
It now became evident to me that our only 
hope was in crossing the river at Rome and 
destroying the bridge, which would delay For- 
rest a day or two and allow the command a 
little time to sleep, without which it would 
be impossible to proceed." 

Such was the service rendered by Emma 
Sansom that Forrest was enabled to over- 
take the Streight command before they had 
accomplished their objects, and the diary of 
Sergeant Briedenthal, U. S. A., records under 
date of May 5 : 

*'We have been treated well since our sur- 
render, by Forrest's men, who have used us 
as a true soldier would treat a prisoner. ' ' 



[283 



XXV 

CAUGHT BETWEEN CONTENDING 
AEMIES 

TN September, 1864, the Confederate Gen- 
eral Hardee, with 22,000 men, was as- 
signed the desperate task of stopping a Fed- 
eral flank movement directed against Atlanta 
and led by Major General Schofield with a 
force of 40,000 picked troops. 

The two armies confronted each other 
northwest of Jonesboro, Georgia; and, when 
the battle began, it happened that the house 
and farm of Mrs. AUie McPeek, a widow, lay 
between them. The Federal lines advanced 
first, and Mrs. McPeek 's house soon became 
a Federal hospital ; but, as the tide of battle 
surged backwards and forwards, her home 
was now in the Federal lines, now in Con- 
federate possession, or, again, between the 
armies, thus receiving shot and shell from 
both sides. 

During the whole day, however, Mrs. Mc- 
Peek moved fearlessly about among the 
wounded and dying, impartial in her efforts 
[284] 



Between Contending Armies 

to help both friend and foe. Finally, night 
came on with the Federal army in possession 
of the battle-ground ; but, when the morning- 
dawned, the brave widow was at her self-ap- 
pointed post doing what she could to help 
the suffering soldiers of either side. 

All she had left was a ruined house and a 
farm laid waste, but, happily for her, Gen- 
eral Schofield himself learned of her noble 
work and of her need. He ordered that a 
large wagon of provisions and supplies be 
sent her with a letter of appreciation for her 
bravery and self-sacrifice. He told her to 
keep the letter, and, after the war, to pre- 
sent it to the United States Government, 
which would make good her losses.* 



*In the course of time, Mrs. MePeek sent to Washing- 
ton General Schofield's letter and a claim for damages, 
which was paid her. She received all she claimed, $600.00, 
although, according to those nearest to her or present at 
the time, that amount did not cover her actual losses. 



[285 



XXVI 

NAERATIVE OF AN EARLY GRAD- 
UATE OF THE FIRST COLLEGE 
FOR WOMEN 

/COMPARATIVELY few Americans are 
aware that Georgia, the youngest of 
the original thirteen colonies, was the first 
State to charter a college for the education 
of women. ''New ideas flourish best," it is 
said, ' ' in new soil, ' ' and this may help to ac- 
count for the creation of the Board of Trus- 
tees of "Wesleyan Female College" at 
Macon, in 1836, to be followed by its first 
session, with 168 young women enrolled, in 
1839. 

It is peculiarly appropriate that a part of 
the experiences of Mrs. Loulaj Kendall 
Rogers, one of Wesleyan's early graduates, 
be given in this volume on the women of the 
South in war times. Under the head of 
"Reminiscences of a War-time Girl," Mrs. 
Rogers wrote: 

"I had been appointed, soon after my grad- 
uation at Weslevan College, Macon, by Miss 
[2S6f 



Narrative of a Weslei/an Graduate 

Eve of Augusta, as Lady Manager of the 
Mount Vernon Association in my county, 
and felt no little pride in the thought of what 
a young girl could do toward preserving the 
beautiful home of Washington as a precious 
heirloom of our very own, never to be dese- 
crated for other purposes but to be kept 
sacred to the memory of the 'Father of our 
Country.' No section contributed more than 
the Southern States, and as he was a true- 
hearted son of the South, we still value above 
gold our interest in his lovely home, and its 
twin sister 'Arlington, the Beautiful,' which 
should have been held sacred in like manner, 
as the home of General Robert E. Lee and 
his bride. 

"The purchase of Mount Vernon having 
been accomplished, there was soon a rum- 
bling sound of dissension upon the northern 
hills, where there should have been peace 
and brotherly love. Emissaries were sent to 
incite the servants against their owners. 
Strange stories were whispered in their ears, 
and promises if they should rise in arms, 
the property and homes of the Southern peo- 
ple should be divided among them, and even 
[287] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the poorest should o^^^l 'forty acres and a 
mule. ' These things, which were not noticed 
at first, began to alarm iis, and although we 
trusted our o^^'n servants, there Avere rumors 
that our own dear home was chosen as a 
favorite point of division among those of 
other plantations."* 

After discussing the Presidential campaign 
of 1860, Mrs. Eogers states that when the 
startlmg news spread through the South that 
the representatives of a wholly sectional 
party had elected a President of the Ignited 
States ''there was a pall of consternation 
draped over every fond hope, and as 'coming- 
events cast their shadows before,' we instinc- 



*Mrs. Eogers then made a statement not unlike others 
to which reference has been made in other parts of this 
volume: "We were never allowed among the cultured 
people of the South to speak of our dependents as 'slaves,' 
but as "house servants and tield hands,' and my father never 
failed to dismiss an overseer who was unkind to them. 
Owning a large niimber, it was quite a hea^y expense to 
furnish all of their clothing, shoes, blankets, hats, fuel, 
and provisions, yet he not only did this, but being a 
physician, provided needful medicines and careful atten- 
tion in cases of sickness. 

'Happiness and peace reigned over their homes, cheered 
each night by gleeful melodies, and songs of praise char- 
acteristic of their race. Their contentment was in evidence 
by the "never-a-care" expression, and their faithful devotion 
to their own white people." 

[ 28S ] 



Narrative of a Wesleyan Graduate 

lively felt that sometliing was ahead of us. 
The young people gathered here and there, 
wondering what they could do to inspire hope 
and cheerfulness among the older ones. 

''There were violent abolitionists in the 
Cabinet who openly avowed a hatred of the 
South and its institutions. Even Whittier 
and Lowell, to whom God had granted the 
divine gift of poesy, saw not the beautiful, 
holy, and true, in this part of their own 
country, but published it to the world as 'A 
land of the scorpion and the lash!'* 



•Oliver Wendell Holmes had written of the "soft-handed 
race, who eat not their bread in the sweat of their face"; 
and because Massachusetts had not taken the action en- 
dorsed by Whittier, the poet wrote of his own State: 
And they have spurned thy word, 

Tliou "of the old Thirteen ! 
Whose soil, where Freedom's blood first pour'd. 

Hath yet a darker green? 
Tread the weak Southron's pride and lust 
Thy name and councils in the dust? 

And have they closed thy mouth, 

And fix'd the padlock fast; 
Slave of the mean and tyrant South! 

Is this thy fate at last? 
Old Massachusetts! can it be 
That thus thy sons must speak of thee? 
Reference has been made to Whittier's unsparing con- 
demnation of Daniel Webster who undertook to uphold 
the thought that there was some justice and right on the 
side of the South. 

[289] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

''Harriet Beecher Stowe, G-arrison, and 
Hoar, besides many others, wrote defamatory 
accusations against the South and scattered 
them broadcast over the waters to incite other 
nations, and causing them to look upon us as 
barbarians, devoid of humanity. 

"Had they known the attachment of serv- 
ants to their owners on the large plantations, 
and their devotion to the young people of the 
family, conscience might have awakened them 
to appreciate the situation. Every true 
Southern mistress was a Florence Nightin- 
gale on her premises, waiting on the sick, 
looking after their clothing, and teaching 
them industrial occupations in every line 
that would make them useful throughout 
life. 

"It was a pleasant task with me to hold a 
Bible class for them every Sabbath morning, 
before I attended my own class. The Com- 
mandments were made a special study with 
grown-ups as well as the children. Our 'old 
black mammy' was a most important factor 
on the place, and would sacrifice body and 
soul to protect 'her babies,' my two brothers, 
sister and myself, from harm. But there 
[2901 



Narrative of a Wesleyan Graduate 

were rumors of war and fearful things that 
might and did happen. . . .* 

. . . ''The most conservative of our 
great men were opposed to secession and the 
probability of war, so they sent commission- 
ers three times to Washington for the special 
purpose of arranging honorable terms of 
peace without bloodshed. Twice they failed, 
as the bitterest men of Lincoln's cabinet were 
determined to use coercion and force the 
South to submit only to their terms. This 
they would not do. A third time our commis- 
sioners were sent to hold a council of peace, 
but Lincoln would not see them! Then the 
whole solid South arose and stood like the 
grand old Grecian heroes for the defense of 
home and native land. 

''Never will I forget my feeKngs when we 
heard that War had really begun. Tears, 
bitter tears, fell in silence, for although on a 
visit to gay young folks we knew not what 
to say or do. 

"I was in Augusta a few days afterward at 
the marriage of 'the Empire and Palmetto 



*See page 190 for recollections of Mrs. Janet Weaver 
Randolph. 

[291] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

States. ' A vast crowd was assembled to wit- 
ness the scene while a band of music pealed 
forth harmonious strains. Old Glory was to 
be placed at the top of a lofty pole riveted on 
the bridge across the Savannah River, bnt 
who was brave enough to climb that pole? 
No one ventured, until 'a tar who ploughed 
the water,' ran up and taking the flag rope 
in his teeth climbed safely to the top amid 
the cheers of the crowd, and the roar of fifteen 
guns for the Southern States. Triumphantly 
the old Revolutionary Flag waved over both 
States, while the people filled the sailor's 
pockets with bills as he came down. 

''On the 4th of February, 1861, the Con- 
federate Congress assembled in Montgom- 
ery, Alabama, and was presided over by Gen- 
eral Howell Cobb. The Constitution of the 
Confederacy was drawn up, and Colonel Jef- 
ferson Davis, the hero of Buena Vista, Sec- 
retary of War in President Pierce's admin- 
istration, and afterward Senator from Mis- 
sissippi, was nominated President of the 
Southern Confederacy. He was a son-in-law 
of General Zachary Taylor, a brave soldier 
who saved the day in one of the battles of 
[292] 



Narrative of a Wesleyan Graduate 

Mexico, refined, cultured, and withal a noble, 
upright. Christian gentleman, who held the 
respect and esteem of the whole of the United 
States, until difference of opinion clouded 
their minds with hatred. 

''During this convention many designs of 
flags were sent in as models for the new Con- 
federacy. Among them the most beautiful 
chosen was one that emanated from the pa- 
triotism of Colonel Orren Smith of North 
Carolina, known as 'The Stars and Bars.' 
The three bars were emblems of the Trinity, 
the white for Love and stainless charac- 
ter, while the blue was for the great Heaven 
spangled with stars to watch over us, and 
the red for the vesper light that should never 
die out. 

"Col. P. W. Alexander, one of the signers 
of Secession (afterward War Correspondent 
of the Confederate Army), was present at this 
first conference, and as soon as the design 
was chosen, drew one at the head of a letter 
and sent it to me, knowing my interest in 
everything that concerned the welfare of our 
beloved Southland. In his description he 
dwelt particularly on the stars being placed 
[ 293 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

in a circle instead of broadcast as in the 
United States flag. I made one the very liour 
that description arrived so I had the honor of 
making the first Confederate Flag ever made 
in Georgia. 

*^Oiir first company, tlie Upson Guards, 
Avas ordered into service- the seventh of May, 
1861. Several young ladies of Thomaston 
accompanied their brothers and friends to 
Macon, where they saw the whole of the Fifth 
Georgia Regiment, a splendid body of soldiers 
from different cities on dress parade at Cen- 
tral Park. That was our first glimpse of over 
a thousand soldiers at once. The first little 
Georgia flag had been presented (by vote of 
the girls) to one of the handsomest, noblest, 
bravest oflScers in that regiment, and watched 
like a ministering spirit over his tent at Pen- 
sacola, Cumberland Gap, Corinth, and the 
battle of Kentucky. As that young Captain 
afterwards became my husband, the honored 
relic of many loving memories came back 
to me. 

''It was a singular coincidence that while 
in Macon on the 7th day of May, 1861, 1 wrote 
a song for the Fifth Regiment, which they 
[294]^ 



Narrative of a Wesleyo/n Graduate 

sang in Camp at Central Park and on the way 
to Pensacola. Fifty years from that time on 
the 7th of May, 1912, at the Great Reunion in 
Macon, some of the same company assembled 
at the same spot, and sang the same song ! 

''Very soon after Lincoln ordered out his 
75,000, the services of women were needed in 
work for the hospitals. The first hospital for 
wounded soldiers in Atlanta was organized 
by Mrs. Isaac Winship. 

''Her daughter was one of my schoolmates 
of Wesleyan College and often during my 
visits to her we assisted in arranging supplies 
for the sick and wounded soldiers. On the 
4th of July she gave them a bountiful dinner 
at one of the hospitals over which she pre- 
sided and appointed our young ladies ' Relief 
Corps to wait on them. 

' ' Their encampment was near her beautiful 
home (on an elevated situation, which two 
years afterwards by Sherman's order was 
burnt to the ground), so we visited their head- 
quarters with her, to ascertain if there was 
anything we could do for them. Governor 
'Joe Brown's Boys', of the North Georgia 
mountains, asked us to cover canteens for 
[295] 



The Women of the South m War Times 

them, which occupation we greatly enjoyed, 
and the poor fellows who were homesick 
called in the evening and requested us to 
play 'Home, Sweet Home,' 'Annie Laurie,' 
and 'The Girl I left Behind Me.' 

"During the Winter we knit 'Arabs' for 
the head, and long wool comforts for the 
throat, besides making fatigue jackets, knit- 
ting socks, displaying our taste on pretty little 
silk and velvet tobacco pouches, hemstitched 
handkerchiefs and everything kind thought 
could suggest for their comfort and pleasure. 

"From 1861 to the close of the War be- 
tween the States, our busy hands were never 
idle. Carpets and piano covers were cut 
up and sent to the tents to sleep on, having al- 
ready given up blankets and quilts in abun- 
dance. Boxes of eatables were sent to our 
brothers and friends whenever an opportunity 
was found, as many of the railroads and 
bridges were destroyed, which prevented com- 
munication. 

. . . "In April of 1862, there originated 

in Georgia (where so many patriotic deeds 

had a beginning), a movement that was called 

'The Ladies' Gunboat Association.' Imme- 

[296] 



Narrative of a Wesleyan Graduate 

diately after hearing of this (although it was 
a sad duty), I collected the first funds in 
our part of the State, to which amount was 
added $350 subscribed by the Holloway Grays 
of Upson County, through their brave, gen- 
erous Captain, A. J. White, who sent it to 
me from Beans Station, Tenn, 

''A fine little iron-clad boat was fitted up, 
and there never was a vessel before this, 
that was christened by woman's tears, and 
sent out upon the deep, underneath the con- 
secrated incense of woman's prayers for her 
country ! How many fond hopes sailed over 
the seas under that beautiful flag, the ^ Stars 
and Bars!' 

*'But these fond hopes were fleeting, for 
as soon as the gallant crew heard that Sher- 
man had invaded Savannah, rather than allow 
this little shrine of woman's patriotism to 
fall into his hands, they sorrowfully placed 
a torch upon the helm and bade it farewell 
forever. 

*'In the meantime the Confederate Cabinet 

had moved to Richmond, but with a party of 

friends I visited afterward the Capitol at 

Montgomery, and stood on the star-marked 

[297] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

spot where the President of the Confederacy 
had made his inaugural address. From there 
we went to Selma on the gallant steamer 
'Coquette,' where we saw the manufacture 
of guns and cannon balls of all sizes, which 
was a novel sight and saddening to think our 
Southland had come to this ! As we returned 
to Montgomery, an immense cargo of cotton 
was rolled down the embankment to the boat, 
and a rarer sight to us were the two hundred 
and fifty Federal prisoners captured and 
placed on the lower deck. 

''During the bombardment of Savannah, a 
family of dear friends from that city sought 
refuge in our dear old country home, and 
were made welcome for several months, en- 
joying rides over the 'red old hills of Geor- 
gia,' and fishing parties on the Tobler. Even 
during our carriage drives, we took our 
crochet and knitting along so as to keep sup- 
plied with needful comforts for our soldiers. 

"At length the fearful days of horror came, 
which we never really believed would happen 
in such a civilized country as ours. 

"We had just returned from our plantation 
in Wilcox County on the Ocmulgee River, 
[298] 



Narrative of a Wesleyan Graduate 

that we might spend the Summer at my beau- 
tiful childhood's home, 'Sweet Bellwood,' 
which stood on the crest of one of the grand 
old hills of Upson County. 

*'It was a lovely spring day on the 18th 
of April, 1865. A rumor came that the Fed- 
eral Army was in Columbus, fifty miles away, 
and was marching toward Macon, by way of 
Thomaston and Culloden. Immediately our 
family silver and jewels were deposited in 
security, the horses and mules were sent to a 
remote part of the plantation and provisions 
such as hams, jars of lard, sacks of flour, 
coffee, sugar and syrup were buried away 
from prying eyes by my nurse and her hus- 
band, who we knew would be faithful unto 
death. 

* ' The white wings of Hope were then folded 
about our hearts and bade us cast out all 
fear. There was no one at home but my 
dear old grandmother, my mother, and my- 
self, and we had always heard that a Mason's 
family would be protected in the time of dan- 
ger, so we hung a Masonic Apron in the broad 
hall where it could be seen. 

'*In a few moments fires were seen in every 
[299] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

direction, from, the second-story windows. 
Beyond Thomaston, Eogers Factory, a large 
four-storied building, with the Grist Mill and 
many cottages were all in flames. 

' ' Nearer and nearer columns of thick black 
smoke were seen which showed that the Way- 
manville Mills also were under the relentless 
torch. These splendid mills were owned by 
Colonel George Swift, formerly of New York, 
a man of sterling worth, culture, and refine- 
ment, whose family were among our most ap- 
preciated neighbors. 

*'To add to our horror, a troop of little 
negroes, with eyes like a full moon, come 
rushing in with a shout, 'Yankees comin'!' 
Very soon about fifty on horseback sur- 
rounded our homes. Bureau drawers were 
ransacked, locks cut out of trunks, jewels ab- 
stracted, closets searched, long-treasured 
heirlooms removed, finally leaving every room 
in wild disorder. 

''As the first troop took leave, another 
came in, and this kind of visitation lasted 
three days. About one hundred bales of 
ginned cotton and thirty bales of lint cotton 
were destroyed. My mother, with the assis- 
[300] 



Narrative of a Wesleyam Graduate 

tance of our servants, who nobly stood by 
lis, poured water oh some of the bales, and 
had them rolled to the horse lot into a stream 
of water, savhig seven out of the number. 

' ' On the 19th of April, 1865, we were horri- 
fied by seeing that these men had found our 
horses and mules! As I had been married 
only a few months, there was among my most 
valuable bridal presents two splendid bays- 
and a handsome Victoria. What were my 
feelings then when two rough-looking soldiers 
rode up to the gate on these beautiful horses 
that were associated with the happiest hours 
of my life? Hitherto I had been too indig- 
nant to weep, but how could I stand this? 
Tears then began to flow not silently, but I 
actually wept aloud, and begged those hard- 
hearted men to spare these two horses, and 
they might have some of the others. But the 
dashing bays were the very ones they wanted 
most, so out of the gate they passed, the dear 
fleet-footed, graceful friends, who had 
brought to me amid the clouds of war so much 
joy and brightness, but never to cheer our 
desolate home again! 

**My little pony * Joe Brown,' mother's fine 
[301] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

buggy horse, and thirty other horses and 
mules shared the same fate. How was the 
plowing to be done? 

"These incidents are only as one among 
many, during Sherman's March through 
Georgia, and Wilson's Raid, which left ruin 
and desolation in their track. 

' ' * But a land without ruins is a land with- 
out memories. 

'A land without memories is a land Tsith- 
out history.' 

"Had it not been for the midnight shadows 
that enshrouded our country we should never 
have kno^^^l the brilliant stars who illumi- 
nated the Southern Cross with their radiance, 
and have emblazoned their glory in undying 
light over the whole world." 



[302] 



XXVII 

IN SHERMAN'S SWATH TO THE SEA 

'T'HE utter destitution of the women and 
children of Georgia in the wake of Sher- 
man's army is well illustrated by the narra- 
tive of one of them — Mary A. H. Gay. The 
authenticity of her narrative has been 
vouched for by Joel Chandler Harris, of 
"Uncle Remus" fame. 

Prom her home near Decatur, Georgia, 
Miss Gay set out for Atlanta, in 1864, on an 
errand of mercy. She arrived at the latter 
city after Sherman had entered, and she saw 
the despoiling of the houses not already de- 
stroyed. Having obtained a pass, she went 
from Atlanta southward to Jonesboro, tak- 
ing with her carefully secreted and much 
needed clothing for the Confederate soldiers. 

On the way she saw and afterwards graphi- 
cally described the appearance of "the en- 
tire Southern population of Atlanta, and 
that of miles around as they were dumped out 
upon the cold ground without shelter." In 
her description of the scene as she passed 
[ 303 1 



The Women of the South in War Times 

through, she wrote: "An antiminal mist or 
drizzle was slowly but surely saturating every 
article of clothing upon them. Aged grand- 
mothers upon the verge of the grave, tender 
girls in the first bloom of young womanhood, 
and little babes not three days old in the arms 
of sick mothers, were driven from their homes 
and all thrown out upon the cold charity of 
the world. ' ' 

This dismal scene at the village of Jones- 
boro was lightened for a moment when, upon 
the platform of one of the Atlanta trains, 
there appeared a girl "in a pretty but plain 
debeige dress, trimmed with Confederate but- 
tons and corresponding ribbon." Her whole 
air and manner, wTote Miss Gay, ' ' conspired 
to make her appear, even to a casual observer, 
just what she was — a typical Southern girl 
who gloried in that honor. . . . 

* ' She stood up for a moment, and then, as 
if moved by some divine inspiration, she 
stepped from the car, and falling upon her 
knees, bent forward and kissed 
of^DhSr* the ground. This silent demon- 

stration of affection for the 
land of Dixie touched a vibrant chord, and 
[304] 



In Sherman's Path 

a score or more of beautiful girlish voices 
blended in sweetest harmony while they told 
in song their love for Dixie. I listened spell- 
bound, and was not the only one thus en- 
chanted. A United States officer listened and 
was touched to tears. Approaching me, he 
asked if I would do him the favor to tell him 
the name of the young lady who kissed the 
ground. 

** *I do not think she would approve of my 
telling you her name, and I decline to do so,* 
I said in reply. Not in the least daunted by 
this rebuff, he responded: 

" *I shall learn it; and if she has not al- 
ready become the wife or the fiancee of an- 
other, I shall offer her the devotion of my 
life.' " 

From the neighborhood of the broken-down 

railroad. Miss Gay, on her return set out 

again for her home in Decatur. She walked 

alone from Stone Mountain. lu 

The Return ^iqv owti words : ' ' The solitude 
Home . 1 1 P T 

was terrifymg, and the feeling 

of awe was so intense that I was startled by 

the breaking of a twig, or the sound of my 

own footsteps. I had entered a war-stricken 

[305] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

section of country where stood chimneys only, 
standing amid ruins. No wonder they were 
called 'Sherman's sentinels,' as they seemed 
to be keeping guard over those scenes of 
desolation. The very birds of the air and 
the beasts of the field had fled.* 
Much of Miss Gay's notes on war-times illus- 
trates the extreme difficulty which unpro- 
tected women faced in getting the barest 
necessities to sustain life. Some time after 
she had returned from her trip to Jonesboro, 
she wrote, late in 1S64 : 

' ' We had spent the preceding day in picking 
out grains of corn from cracks and crevices 
ill bureau drawers, and other 
sf^a^tion improvised troughs for Fed- 

eral horses, as well as in gath- 
ering up what was scattered upon the ground. 



*Miss Gay had obtained permission to go South through 
the Federal lines by means of a letter of recommenda- 
tion from Major J. W. Campbell, U. S. A., who was sta- 
tioned in her neighborhood. The following letter from 
him is of special interest : 

"Pecatur. Ga.. September 1, 1864. 

•"Tomorrow I leave for my own home in the 'frozen 
North." and when I return it will be to light for my coun- 
try, and against your friends, so that I suppose I shall 
not have the pleasure of again meetiug you. 
"Verv respectfullv, " 

'j. W. CAMPBEIi." 

[3061 



In Sherman' s Path 

In this way by diligent and persevering work, 
about a half bushel was obtained from the 
now deserted camping ground of Garrard's 
cavalry, and this corn was thoroughly washed 
and dried, and carried by me and Telitha to 
a poor little mill (which had escaped confla- 
gration, because too humble to attract atten- 
tion), and ground into coarse meal." 

Returning from the mill one day, Miss G-ay 
saw her mother running to meet her to tell 
her that Mrs. Benedict, one of her neighbors, 
and the latter 's little children were in an ac- 
tual state of starvation. Mrs. Benedict's hus- 
band was in the Confederate Army and she 
and her children had been supported by 
refugees driven from their own section by the 
further invasion of the Federal Armies. Miss 
Gay at once cooked Avhat little food she had 
and prepared to divide it with the starving 
family. 

*'0n the doorsteps," she wrote, *'sat the 
young mother, beautiful in desolation, with a 
baby in her arms, and on either side of her a 
little one, piteously crying for something to 
eat. 'Oh, mamma, I want something to eat, 
so bad. Oh, mamma, I am so hungry — give 
[307] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

me something to eat.' Thus the children 
were begging for what the mother had not 
to give. She could only give them soothing 
words." 

Miss Gay was determined, however, to 
solve the problem and she decided that this 
involved taking the mother and children to 
a village some fifty miles distant and putting 
them in the care of relatives of Mrs. Bene- 
dict's husband. 

''Without any positive plan in view, I took 
leave of Maggie and her children, ' ' continues 
Miss Gay's narrative. ''I was working by 
faith and God directed my steps. On my 
way home I hunted up ' Uncle Mack, ' a faith- 
ful old negro man who preferred freedom in 
the midst of privation with his own white peo- 
ple, to following the Federal Army around on 
'Uncle Sam's' pay roll. I got from him a 
promise that he would construct a wagon out 
of the odds and ends left upon the streets of 
Decatur. 

The next thing to be done was to provide 
a horse, and not being a magician, nor pos- 
sessed of Aladdin's lamp, this undertaking 
must have seemed chimerical to those who 
[ 308 ] 



In Sherman's Path 

had not known how often and how singularly 
these scarcely formnlated plans had devel- 
oped into snccess. This day 
An Adventure ^Liidi been one of constant and 

"in the Face . . . t t 

of Fortune" active service, and was only 
one of many that fnrnished 
from sixteen to eighteen working honrs. 

Next morning, before the sun rose, accom- 
panied by the Morton girls, I was on my way 
to ''the cane-breaks." I had seen many 
horses, whose places had been taken by others 
captured from farmers, abandoned and sent 
out to the cane-brakes to recuperate or die, 
the latter being the more probable. With- 
out any definite knowledge of the locality, I 
went direct to the cane-brake, and there soon 
made a selection of a horse, which, from the 
assortment at hand, could not have been im- 
proved upon. By a dextrous throw of a lasso, 
constructed and managed by the young 
friends already mentioned, he was soon cap- 
tured and on his way to Decatur to enter 
''rebel" service. His most conspicuous fea- 
ture was a pair of fine eyes that were large, 
bro\\m, and lustrous. There were other con- 
spicuous things about him, too ; for instance, 
[309; 



The Women of the South in War Times 

branded upon each of his sides were the tell- 
tale letters, " U. S., " and on his back was an 
immense sore, which also told tales. By 
twelve o'clock, noon, ''Uncle Mack" appeared 
npon the scene, pulling something Avhich he 
had improvised and which baffled description. 
Suffice it to say that as it carried living 
freight in safety over many a bridge, and, 
in honor of this, I will call it a wagon. ''Uncle 
Mack" soon had the horse secured to this 
vehicle by ropes and pieces of crocus sack, 
for harness was as scarce a commodity as 
wagons and horses. 

I surveyed the equipage from center to 
circumference with emotions pathetic and 
amusing. Thus equipped and with a benedic- 
tion from my mother, expressed more by 
looks and acts than by words, I gathered the 
ropes and started like Bayard Taylor to take 
"Views Afoot," and at the same time accom- 
plish an errand of mercy which would lead 
me, as I led the horse, over a portion of 
country that in dreariness and utter desola- 
tion baffles description — enough to Iniow that 
Sherman's foraging trains had been over 
it. Leading the horse, which was already 
[310] 



In Sherman's Path 

christened ''Yankee," to Dr. Holmes' door, 
I called Maggie to come on with her 
children. 

[With the help of "Uncle Mack," Miss Gray 
managed to load the wagon with Mrs. Bene- 
dict and her three small children, together 
with three large trunks.] 

Poor Yankee seemed to feel the importance 
of this mission, and jogged along at a pretty 
fair speed, and I, who walked by his side 
and held the ropes, found myself more than 
once obliged to strike a trot in order to main- 
tain control of him. Paradoxical as it may 
seem, I enjoyed this new phase of my service 
to the Confederacy — ^none but a patriot could 
render it, and the whole thing seemed in- 
vested with the glamour of romance. While 
Maggie hummed a sweet little lullaby to her 
children, I contemplated the devastation and 
ruin on every side. Not a vestige of anything 
remained to mark the sites of the pretty 
homes which had dotted this fair country be- 
fore the destroyer came, except, perhaps, a 
standing chimney now and then. And all this 
struck me as the willing sacrifice of a peerless 
people for a great principle, and looking 
[311] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ilu\niiih the dark vistn I saw light ahead — I 
$aw white-robod poaoo pvoelaiiuiuii" that the 
end of earuagv had eome. 

Ma^rgie and the ehildvon beoiime restive in 
their pent-\ip limits* and the latter clamored 
tor soniethiiig to eat, bnt there Avas nothing 
to §i\^ them. Xight %Yas npon ns, and we had 
eojne only about eight miles, and not an ani- 
mate thing had we seen sinot> we left Ptvatnr, 
not even a bird, and the silenco was nnbroken 
save by the sound of the horse's feet as he 
trod npon the nx'ks, and the soft, sweet hum- 
ming of the young mother to her dear little 
ones, Step by step we seemed to descend into 
the caverns of darkness and my heart began 
to falter. The children, awe-struck, had 
oeaseil their appeal for bi*ead, and nestled 
elos^r to their mother, and that they might 
all the moil? feel her protecting presence, she 
kept up a constant ci\H>ning sound, pathetic 
and sad. Step by step we penetratevi the 
blackness of night — a nig^t without a moon, 
starless and murky. The unerring instinct of 
an animal was ail we had to guide us in the 
beaten I'oad, which had ceased to be visible to 
human ken. 

[3121 



In Hherman's Path 

A faint ^lirnrrior of light, id appan;ritly no 
voiy groat distance, gave hojjo that our day's 
journey was almost ended. Yankee also 
caught the inspiration and walked a little 
faster. Though the time seemed long, the 
cabin, for such it proved to be, was finally 
reached. I dropped the ropes, and, guided 
by the glimmer of light through the cracks, 
went to the door and knocked, at the samo 
time announcing my name. The door was 
quickly opened. Imagine my surprise when 
recognized and cordially welcomed by a sweet 
friend, whose most humble plantation cabin 
was a pretty residence in comparison with 
the one she now occupied. Maggie, too, as 
the daughter of a well-known physician, re- 
ceived cordial wfdcome for herself and chil- 
dren. And thus a kind Providence provided 
a safe lodging for the night. 

Nature again asserted itself, and the chil- 
dren asked for something to eat. The good 
lady of the house kissed them, and told them 
that supper would soon be ready. The larger 
one of her little sons drew from a bed of 
ashes, which had been covered by glowing 
coals, some large yam potatoes which he took 
[313] 



\ 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to a table and peeled. He then went outside 
the cabm and drew from a keg an earthen- 
ware pitcher full of sparkling persinunon 
beer, which he dispensed to ns in cups, and 
then handed around the potatoes. And how 
much this repast was enjoyed! Good sweet 
yams thoroughly cooked, and the zestful per- 
simmon beer! And I thought of the lonely 
mother at a desolated home, whose only sup- 
per had been made of coarse meal, ground 
from corn which her own hands helped to pick 
from crevices and cracks in improvised 
troughs, where Garrard's cavalry had fed 
their horses. After a while the sweet 
womanly spirit that presided over this little 
group got a quilt and a shawl or two, and 
made a pallet for the children. The boys 
put more wood upon the fire, and some in 
the jambs of the fireplace, to be used during 
the night ; and then they went behind us and 
lay down upon the floor, with seed cotton for 
pillows, and the roof for covering. Our kind 
hostess placed additional wraps over the 
the shoulders of Maggie and myself, and we 
three sat up in our chairs and slept until the 
dawn. 

[314] 



In Sherman's Path 

[Miss Gay's narrative reports nothing 
eventful for the second day of her trip and 
she and her charges arrived at the little vil- 
lage of Social Circle. She continues:] 

So far as Maggie and her children were 
concerned I now felt that I had done all that 
I could, and that I must hasten back to my 
lonely mother at Decatur; but Maggie's tear- 
ful entreaties not to be left among strangers 
prevailed upon me, and I got aboard the 
train with her, and never left her until I had 
placed her and her children in the care of 
good Mr, Thrasher at Madison, to be con- 
veyed by him to the home of Mrs. Reeves, 
her husband's sister. 

In Madison, I, too, had dear friends and 
relatives, with whom I spent the night, and 
the morning's train bore me back to Social 
Circle, then the terminus of the Greorgia Rail- 
road. Arriving there, imagine my surprise 
and indignation when I learned that Mr. R^, 
whom I had paid in advance to care for Yan- 
kee while I was gone to Madison, had sent 
him out to his sorghum mill and put him to 
grinding cane ; and it was with much difficulty 
and delay that I got him to start on my home- 
[315] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ward journey that afternoon. Instead of his 
being rested, he was literally broken down, 
and my pity for him constrained me to walk 
every step of the way back to Decatur. While 
waiting for the horse, I purchased such arti- 
cles of food as I could find. For instance, a 
sack of flour, for which I paid a hundred dol- 
lars, Confederate money; a bushel of pota- 
toes; several gallons of sorghum; a few 
pounds of butter, and a few pounds of meat. 
Even this was a heavy load for the poor 
jaded horse. Starting so late I could only 
get to the hospitable home of Mr. Crew, dis- 
tant only three miles from '^The Circle." 

Before leaving Mr. Crew's, the next morn- 
ing, I learned that an immense Yankee raid 
had come out from Atlanta, and had burned 
the bridge which I had crossed only two days 
ago. This information caused me to take 
another route to Decatur, and my heart lost 
much of its hope, and my step its alacrity. 
Yet the Lord sustained me in the discharge of 
duty. I never wavered when there was a 
principle to be guarded, or a duty to be per- 
formed. Those were praying days with me, 
and how I fervently invoked God's aid and 
[316] 



In Sherman's Path 

protection in my perilous undertaking, and I 
believed that He would grant aid and protec- 
tion. . 

In the early part of the day, during this 
solitary drive, I came to a cottage by the 
wayside that was a perfect gem — an oasis, 
and everything that could thrill the heart by 
its loveliness. Flowers of every hue beauti- 
fied the grounds and sweetened the air, and 
peace and plenty seemed to hold undisputed 
sway. The Fiend of Destruction had not yet 
reached this little Eden. Two gentlemen 
were in the yard conversing. I perceived at 
a glance that they were of the clerical order, 
and would have spoken to them; but not 
wishing to disturb them, or attract attention 
to myself, I was passing by as unobtrusively 
as possible, when I was espied and recognized 
by one of them, who proved to be that saintly 
man. Rev. Walter Branham. He introduced 
me to his friend. Professor Shaw of Oxford. 
Their sympathy for me was plainly expressed, 
and they gave much needed instruction re- 
garding the route, and suggested that I would 
about get to Rev. Henry Clark's to put up for 
the night. With a hearty shake of the hand, 
[317] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

and * * God bless you, noble woman, ' I pursued 

my lonely way and they went theirs. No 

other adventure enlivened the day, and poor 

patient Yankee did the best he could, and so 

did I. It was obvious that he had done about 

all he could. Grrinding sorghum under a hard 

task-masfer, with an empty stomach, had told 

on him, and he could no longer quicken his 

pace at the sound of a friendly voice. 

At length we came in sight of the Clark 

place. I stood amazed, bewildered. I felt 

as if I would sink to the ground, yea, through 

it. I was riveted to the spot 

^^li^^ p"v,:« on which I stood. I could not 
a iNegro Labin 

move. At length I cried — 
cried like a woman in despair. Elegant rose- 
wood and mahogany furniture, broken into a 
thousand fragments, covered the face of the 
ground as far as I could see ; and china and 
glass looked as if it had been sown. And the 
house, what of that? Alas! it too had been 
scattered to the four winds of heaven in 
the form of smoke and ashes. Not even a 
chimney stood to mark its site. Near by 
stood a row of negro cabins, intact, showing 
that while the conflagration was going on, 
[318] 



In Sherman' s Path 

they had been sedulously guarded. And these 
cabins were occupied by the slaves of the 
plantation. Men, women, and children 
stalked about in restless uncertainty, and in 
surly indifference. They had been led to 
believe that the country would be apportioned 
to them, but they had sense enough to know 
that such a mighty revolution involved trou- 
ble and delay, and they were supinely waiting 
developments. No man, woman, or child ap- 
proached me. There was mutual distrust 
and mutual avoidance. 

It took less time to take in this situation 
than to describe it. The sun was almost 
down, and as he turned his large red face 
upon me, I fancied he fain would have stopped 
in his course to see me out of this dilemma. 
What was I to do! The next nearest place 
that I could remember that would perhaps 
give protection for the night, was Mr. 
Fowler's and this was my only hope. With 
one hand upon Yankee's shoulder, and the 
ropes in the other, I moved on, and not until 
my expiring breath will I forget the pleading 
look which that dumb animal turned upon 
me when I started. Utterly helpless, and in 
[319] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

my hands, lie wondered liow I conld exact 
more of him. I wondered myself. But what 
was I to do but to move on? And with con- 
tinuous supplication for the Lord to have 
mercy upon me, I moved on. More than once 
the poor horse turned that look, beseeching 
.and pathetic, upon me. It frightened me. 
I did not understand it, and still moved on. 
At last the hope of making himself under- 
stood forsook him, and he deliberately laid 
himself do^\"Ti in the road. He did not move, 
and his large, lustrous bro^^^l eyes seemed to 
say for him: "I have done all I can, and 
can do no more." 

What could I do but rise from my implor- 
ing attitude and face my perilous situation? 
''Lord, have mercy upon me," was my oft- 
repeated invocation. The first thing which 
greeted my vision when I rose to my feet 
was a very distant but evidently an advancing 
object. I watched it with bated breath, and 
soon had the satisfaction of seeing a man 
on mule-back. I told him of my trouble, and 
received most cordial sympathy from one who 
had been a Confederate soldier, but who was 
now at home in consequence of wounds that 
[320] 





^^^^^^P^^^^^^HF 


i 






S^9 




^ 




^^1 

^^^^^^^^^^H 


jt^i 



SARAH DABNEY EGGLESTON 
This picture of Mrs. Eggleston was originally taken 
for the Neio York Times early in 1918, as an illustra- 
tion of patriotic industry during the World War. As 
described in the Times, Mrs. Eggleston is shown "in 
her eightieth year, between heel and toe of her six- 
hundredth sock knitted since the World War began." 



Of Virginia parentage, Mrs. Eggleston was born in 
Hinds County, Mississippi. During the first year of 
the war between the States, she married Lieutenant 
John Randolph Eggleston, who had resigned from the 
United States Navy to enter the service of the Con- 
federacy. On the decks of the Virginia ( Merrimac ) , 
Lieutenant Eggleston took part in the famous fight 
with the Monitor in 1862, in which the Monitor, after 
a gallant struggle, was forced to retire from the com- 
bat (p. 182). It is stated that Mrs. Eggleston's life, 
after the furling of the flag of the Confederacy, has 
been devoted to "teaching the young that her cause, 
never a 'lost' one, was a just cause and a glorious 
one." Let no one teach otherwise! During the World 
War, Mrs. Eggleston knitted her "pair of socks a day" 
for the boys in khaki just as she had knitted them 
over fifty years before for the gallant Americans who 
then wore the Gray. 



In Sherman's Path 

incapacitated him for further service. When 
he heard all, he said: 

''I would take you home with me, but I 
have to cross a swimming creek before get- 
ting there, and I am afraid to undertake to 
carry you. Wait here until I see these ne- 
groes. They are a good set, and whatever 
they promise, they will, I think, carry out 
faithfully" 

The time seemed interminable before he 
came back, and night, black night, had set 
in ; and yet a quiet resignation sustained me. 

When my benefactor returned, two negro 
men came with him, one of whom brought a 
lantern, bright and cheery. "I have ar- 
ranged for you to be cared for here," said 
he. '^Several of the old house servants of 
Mrs. Clark know you, and they will prove 
themselves worthy of the trust we repose in 
them." I accepted the arrangement made 
by this good man, and entrusted myself to 
the care of the negroes for the night. This 
I did with great trepidation, but as soon as 
I entered the cabin an assurance of safety 
filled my mind with peace, and reconciled 
me to my surroundings. The ''mammy" that 
[321] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

presided over it met me with a cordial wel- 
come and assured me that no trouble would 
befall me under her roof. An easy chair 
was placed for me in one corner in comfort- 
able proximity to a large plantation fire. 
In a few minutes the men came in bringing 
my flour, potatoes, syrup, bacon, etc. The 
sight gave me real satisfaction, as I thought 
of my poor patient mother at home and hoped 
that in some way I should yet be able to 
convey to her this much needed freight. I 
soon espied a table on which was piled many 
books and magazines; Mr. Clark's theologi- 
cal books were well represented. I proposed 
reading to the women, if they would like to 
hear me, and soon had their undivided atten- 
tion, as well as that of several of the men, 
who sat on the doorsteps. 

In this way several hours passed, and then 
''mammy" said, ''You must be getting 
sleepy." "Oh, no," I replied, "I frequently 
sit up all night reading." But this did not 
satisfy her ; she had devised in her own mind 
something more hospitable for her guest, and 
she wanted to see it carried out. Calling 
into requisition the assistance of the men, she 
[322 ] 



In Sherman' s Path 

had two large cedar chests placed side by 
side, and out of these chests were taken nice 
clean quilts, and snow-white counterpanes, 
and sheets, and pillows — Mrs. Clark's beau- 
tiful bed-clothing — and upon those chests was 
made a pallet upon which a queen might have 
reposed with comfort. It was so tempting in 
its cleanliness that I consented to lie down. 
The sole occupants of that room that night 
were myself and my hostess — the aforesaid 
black ''mammy." Rest, not sleep, came to 
my relief. The tramping of feet, and now 
and then the muffled sound of human voices, 
kept me in a listening attitude, and it must 
be confessed, in a state of painful appre- 
hension. Thus the night passed. 

With the first dawn of day, I was up, 
and ready to meet the day's requirements. 
''Mammy's" first greeting was, "What's 
your hurry?" "I am accustomed to early 
rising. May I open the door?" The first 
thing I saw was Yankee, and he was standing 
eating; but he was evidently too weak to at- 
tempt the task of getting that cumbersome 
vehicle and its freight to Decatur. So I ar- 
ranged with one of the men to put a steer to 
[ ^2?> ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

tlie wagon and carry them home. This he 
was to do for the sum of one hundred dollars. 
After an appetizing breakfast, I started 
homeward, leading Yankee in the rear of 
this turnout. Be it remembered, I did not 
leave without making ample compensation 
for my night 's entertainment. 

No event of particular interest occurred on 
the way to Decatur. Yankee walked surpris- 
ingly well, and the little steer acquitted him- 
self nobly. In due time Decatur appeared in 
sight, and then there ensued a scene which 
for pathos defies description. Matron and 
maiden, mother and child, each with a tin can 
picked up off the enemy's camping ground, 
ran after me and begged for just a little some- 
thing to eat — just enough to keep them from 
starving. Not an applicant was refused, and 
by the time the poor, rickety, cumbersome 
wagon reached its destination, its contents 
had been greatly diminished. But there was 
yet enough left to last for some time the 
patient, loving mother, the faithful Telitha, 
and myself. 

[Later, after Sherman's departure north- 
ward. Miss Gay's narrative tells of the gath- 
[ 324 1 



In Sherman's Path 

ering of minie balls and other metal on the 
battlefields around Atlanta. Miss Gay 
writes:] 

With a basket in either hand, and accom- 
panied by Telitha who carried one that would 
hold about a peck, and two old dull case- 
knives, I started to the battlefields around 
Atlanta to pick up the former missiles of 
death to exchange for food to keep us from 
starving. 

I made it a point to keejj very near the 
road in the direction of Atlanta, and soon 
found myself on the very spot where the Con- 
federate magazine stood, the 
and Tea^s»°*^ blowing up of which, by Con- 
federate orders, shook the very 
earth, and was distinctly heard thirty-five or 
forty miles distant. An exclamation of glad 
surprise from Telitha carried me to her. She 
had found a bonanza, and was rapidly filling 
her basket with that which was more valuable 
to us than gold. In a marshy place, en- 
crusted with ice, innumerable bullets, minie 
balls, and pieces of lead seemed to have been 
left, by the irony of fate, to supply suste- 
nance to hungry ones, and employment to the 
[325] 



The Women of the 8outh in War Times 

poor, as all the winter, those without money to 
send to more favored and distant points 
found sure returns from this lead mine. It 
was so cold our feet were almost frozen, and 
our hands had commenced to bleed, and han- 
dling cold, rough lead cramped them so badly 
that I feared we would have to desist from 
our work before filling the baskets. 

Lead! Blood! Tears! how suggestive! 
Lead, blood, and tears, mingled and com- 
mingled. In vain did I try to dash the tears 
away. They would assert themselves and 
fall upon lead stained with blood. ''God of 
mercy, if this be Thy holy will, give me forti- 
tude to bear it uncomplainingly," was the 
heartfelt invocation that went up to the 
throne of grace from over lead, blood, and 
tears, that fearful day. For relief, tears did 
not suffice. I wanted to cry aloud; nature 
would not be satisfied with less, and I cried 
like a baby, long and loud. Telitha caught 
the spirit of grief and cried too. 

At length our baskets were filled, and we 

took up our line of march to the desolated 

city. There were no labyrinths to tread, nor 

streets to follow, and an occasional question 

[326] 



In Sherman's Path 

secured information that enabled us to find 
the *' commissary" without delay. Telitha 
was very ambitious that I should appear a 
lady, and wanted me to deposit my load of 
lead behind some place of concealment, while 
we went on to deliver hers, and then let her 
go back for mine. But I was too much a 
Confederate soldier for that, and walked 
in with my heavy, precious load. 

A courteous gentleman in a faded gray uni- 
form, evidently discharged because of wounds 
received in battle, approached and asked 
what he could do for me. 

'■ ' I have heard that you give provisions for 
lead, ' ' I replied, ' ^ and I have brought some to 
exchange. ' ' 

What seemed an interminable silence en- 
sued, and I felt without seeing that I was 
undergoing a sympathetic scrutiny, and that 
I was recognized as a lady "to the manor 
born. ' ' 

"What would you like in exchange?" he 
asked. 

"If you have sugar, and coffee, and meal, 
a little of each, if you please, ' ' I timidly said. 
"I left nothing to eat at home." 
[327] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

The baskets of lead were removed to the 
rear and weighed, and in dne time returned 
to me filled to the brim with sugar, coffee, 
flour, meal, lard, and the nicest meat I had 
seen in a long time. 

''Oh, sir," I said, ''I did not expect so 
much. ' ' 

"You have not yet received what is due 
you," this good man replied, and handed me 
a certificate which he assured me would se- 
cure as much more on presentation. 

Joy had gone out of my life, and I felt 
no thrill of that kind; but I can never de- 
scribe the satisfaction I experienced as I 
lifted two of those baskets, and saw Telitha 
grasp the other one, and turned my face 
homeward. 

On the very day Miss Gay was gathering 
up these "missiles of death" near Atlanta, 
her brother met his death on the battlefield 
of Franklin, Tennessee — "Killed," the re- 
port ran, "on the battlefield, thirty steps 
from the breastworks." 

This sad news was too much for her weak- 
ened mother to bear, and Mrs. Gay died soon 
[328] 



In SJieruian's Path 

afterwards, yet all tlie while the brave daugh- 
ter went on with her work of supporting her- 
self as best she could and, by her example, 
encouraging others ^'to live for their coun- 
try as they had been ever willing to die for 
it." 

Among the military procedures approved 
by General W. T. Sherman, the following may 
be quoted here as furnishing the historical 
background for these chapters 
"^f^^^^"^^ on war-time sufferings in the 

Desolation ^^^' South and as showing also 

the direct cause of the desola- 
tion of the country and the privations of its 
civilian population. 

On the 23rd of February, 1865, General 
Sherman wrote to General Kirkpatrick: 

''Let the whole people know the war is 
now against them because their armies flee 
before us and do not defend their country 
or frontier as they should. It is pretty non- 
sense for "Wheeler and Beauregard and such 
vain heroes to talk of our warring against 
women and children and prevent us reaching 
their homes." 

September 8, 1864, he wrote to General 
Webster : 

[329] 



The Womev of the South in War Times 

*' Don't let any citizens come to Atlanta; 
not one. I won't allow trade or manufactures 
of any kind, but you will remove all the pres- 
ent population, and make Atlanta a pure mili- 
tary town." 

On October 20tli. he wrote, from Summer- 
ville, to General Thomas : 

''Out of the forces now here and at At- 
lanta, I propose to organize an efficient army 
of 60,000 to 65,000 men, with which I pro- 
pose to destroy Macon, Augiista. and it may 
be Savannah and Charleston. By this I pro- 
pose to demonstrate the vulnerability of the 
South, and make its inhabitants feel that war 
and individual ruin are synonymous terms." 

On December ISth, from Savannah, he 
wrote to General Grant: 

"With Savannah in our possession, at 
some future time, if not now, Ave can punish 
South Carolina as she deserves, and as thou- 
sands of people in Georgia hope we will do. 
I do sincerely believe that the whole United 
States, Xorth and South, would rejoice to 
have this army turned loose on South Caro- 
lina, to devastate that State in the manner 
we have done in Georjiia." 
[ 330 ] 



In Sherman's Path 

The correspondence between Generals Hal- 
leck and Sherman in regard to Charleston has 
been given above. See p. 222. The latter 
adds, however : 

*'I look upon Columbia as quite as bad as 
Charleston, and I doubt if we shall spare the 
public buildings there as we did at Milledge- 
ville." 

Reference has been made (p. 209) to the 
character and faithfulness of the negroes of "^ 

the Valley of Virginia at the time of the John 
Brown raid. They refused to be led into a 
saturnalia of blood and rapine in accordance 
with the plans of John Brown and his asso- 
ciates. -SV'*^- e ■- • ^-- • ''■ ''-■■'- '■ " • ' ■ %/ S"T -1' ^ 

On the other hand, it may seem strange to 
some that, as the Virginia negroes knew of 
John Brown's plans and purposes, they did 
not warn the people. The answer is that they 
were afraid to do so, for they 
Wishing Them- ^^^^^ threatened by Brown and 

selves Back , . -n ii , • '^ ^ 

in Slavery ^^^^ vciQw With the most terrible 

consequences if they gave out 
any information. ' ' Uncle Charles ' ' in the in- 
cident given on p. 209 was glad enough to 
give up the murderous pike supplied by John 
[ 331 1 



4 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Brown, but not nntil he knew Bro^vn was out 
of the way. He was told that if he gave out 
any information, the pike, or something 
worse, would be used on him and all his fam- 
ily. It was evident that John Brown did not 
love the negroes so much as he had been 
tanght to hate ''the Southern slaveholders." 
Such would seem to have beeoi the opinion of 
Abraham Lincoln.^ (See eulogy on Henry 
Clay prior to the raid on p. 11, and his 
later defense of the Eepublican Party as not 
being connected with Bro^\TL or his plans.) 

It is a curious fact that, throughout the 
South, after the war, thousands of negroes 
longed for the "'good old times" of slavery. 
Some of them thought they foresaw, in the 
license and disorder of the Eeconstruction 
era, the complete moral do-svnfall of their 
race. 

Xumbers of the former slaves sought to 
renew the old relations in some way or other, 
and others desired to have their children 
*' bound out." Miss Gay was one of those 
who received such an offer from one of her 
mother's former slaves. Some years after 
the war, while she was, in common with the 
[332] 



\ 



\Ccu^ 



In Sherman's Path 

majority of the Southern people, living in 
greatly straightened circumstances, she was 
visited by "Frances," who, as a young girl, 
had *'run off" during the war. She had be- 
come the widowed mother of two boys. These 
she hoped to give to Miss Gay until they came 
of age. 

She presented them to Miss Gay in these 
words : 

''Miss Mary, I come to give you my two 
chillern. ' ' 

''Your what?" 

"My chillern, dese here two smah't little 
boys. I'll go wid you to de cote-house in de 
mornin' and you can have de papers drawed 
up and I'll sign 'em, an dese little niggers 
will belong to you till dey's of age to do for 
deyselves; and all I'll ever ask you to do for 
'em is to raise 'em like Miss Polly raised me." 

"Frances" explained further that she was 
going away to help take charge of a laundry 
in Atlanta, and she was distinctly disap- 
pointed when Miss Gay refused her offer. 
Miss Gay then expressed certain thoughts 
universal among the Southern people, when 
she said; 

[ 333 ] 



Tlie Women of the South in War Times 

''If slaveiy "^ere restored and every negro 
on the American continent were offered to 
me, I should spnrn the offer. I should prefer 
poverty rather than assume again the cares 
and perplexities of the ownership of your 
people." 

The reply of "'Frances" is amusing and 
significant. It shows that as long as the negro 
is with them the Southern people must recog- 
nize the presence of the old 
'TrefcSt"^ //-w.^f in new form. They are 
still their weaker brother's 
keeper. 'Trances'' went away to Atlanta 
loaded down with what Miss Gay could, out 
of limited means, provide; but, before she 
left, she said: 

'^Well, it's might 1/ queer. W'ite folJcs 
lister love little niggers, hut now dey won't 
have 'em as a free gift!" 

This story recalls the life and achieTements of '\MaTnmT 
Kate," also of Georgia, but of Eevolutionary times. She 
rescued Governor Stephen Heard from a British prison,, 
carrying him forth from his cell in a basket of clothes, 
which she, in negro fashion, had balanced on her head. 

For this brave deed and for her other great services, she 
was offered her freedom. In refusing the offer, she said, 
with emphasis: ''You kin free me, Marse Stephen, but / 
won't free you .'*' 

Furthermore, "ilammv Kate" made a will in which she 



In Sherman's Path 

left her nine children to the children of Governor Heard, 
of whom there were also nine, thus willing each of the 
latter a servant. She saw that her children were thus well 
provided for ; while she in turn, together with "Daddy 
Jack," her husband, had the best of care and attention 
through old age and up to death. 

It is not to be wondered at that the Southern people re- 
sented the fierce denunciations of men no better than them- 
selves, who, prominent in pulpit, forum, and in literature, 
were continually holding them up to obloquy and scorn as 
beings unfit for further association with themselves. Not 
only Emerson, Lowell, Beecher, Brown, Parker, Garrison, 
Phillips, and hundreds of other preachers, writers, and 
poets, but even such as Whittier denounced those in the 
North Avho sought to defend the character and customs of 
their fellow-countrymen as base "slaves of the mean and 
tyrant South." Lincoln refused to lend himself to this orgy 
of intolerance ; the Gettysburg address carried in it nothing 
of the bitterness of those, who, through ignorance or prej- 
udice, hated the Old South and strove to strip its people 
not only of their character but their very inheritance in 
the history of the Republic which they so largely helped 
to create. 



[335 



xxvin 

THE ST. LOUIS PRISON FOR 
SOUTHERN WOMEN 

During the war, Mrs. Margaret A. E. Mc- 
Lure, of St. Louis, was not only imprisoned 
but she was imprisoned in her own house 
and the house itself made into a prison for 
her and other women of Southern sympa- 
thies. 

When out on an errand of mercy to the un- 
fortunate Confederates who were confined in 
the wretched military ''pens" of old St. 
Louis, Mrs. McLure was quietly informed 
that guards were about her house and that 
she was to be put under arrest. She at once 
hurried home, and when the guards, not 
knowing who she was, crossed their SAvords 
and forbade her entrance, she calmly said : 

''Your prisoner is not in that house. I am 
your prisoner and I wish to enter." 

This took place in March, 1863. A few days 
later, every article in Mrs. McLure 's house 
was sent off and sold. Cots were brought in, 
[336] 



The Prison for Women 

and other women of Confederate sympathies 
were held there as prisoners. 

The remainder of the story of Mrs. Mc- 
Lure's imprisonment and of her subsequent 
release and ''deportation" south has been 
told by Mrs. P. G. Roberts as follows : 

Mrs. McLure had been but a short time in 
prison when she learned that her son, Lewis, 
a lad of fourteen, had been arrested as a spy 
while attending school at Pleas- 
imprisonment ^^^ Ridge Academy. He was 
and Release of , . ., , f. .-... 

Lewis McLure tried bet ore a military com- 
mission and put in Gratiot 
street prison. Being a fine jDenman, he was 
IDut to work in the office. In a few days a 
prisoner Avas brought in who had six hun- 
dred dollars on his person. It was, of course, 
taken away ; and when shortly afterwards he 
was brought into the office to be sent along 
with others to the prison at Alton, the pris- 
oner demanded his money. The guard denied 
that he had any such amount. The prisoner 
seeing Lewis McLure still at the desk, ap- 
pealed to him ; the lad at once asserted that he 
had counted the money. For this offense (of 
speaking the truth) Lewis was taken away 
[337] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

from the desk and sent to the attic, which 
had been previously used as a smallpox hos- 
pital. Here he soon sickened and became so 
poisoned from the foul atmosphere that word 
was gotten to his mother of his need of im- 
mediate care if his life was to be saved. She 
at once requested her faithful friend and phy- 
sician, Dr. Lemoine, to go and see her son. 
The doctor wished to vaccinate him, but was 
refused permission unless he used virus fur- 
nished by the hospital.* This he refused to 
do, but left the prison determined to leave no 
stone unturned in his efforts to have Lewis 
released. This was finally accomplished, 
mainly through the influence of Judge 
Glover ; and Mrs. McLure had the comfort of 
hearing that her son was back at school, 
though permission to visit his mother even 
for an hour was refused. 

All this anxiety had greatly worn on Mrs. 
McLure ; and perhaps the kindest order that 
the not too kind authorities ever gave was 
the one for her banishment. She would surely 
have broken down completely if she had been 



*The virus used for military prisoners was at times more 
to be dreaded than the disease. 

[ 338 ] 



The Prison for Women 

kept longer in prison, where the only food 
served to delicate women was spoiled bacon 
and hard-tack, with coffee so wretched it could 
not be used even by prisoners, who are not 
supposed to be fastidious. The matron 
proved to be a kind-hearted woman, and of- 
fered Mrs. McLure her meals in her room, 
and to add to them some of the delicacies 
found in the house ; but Mrs. McLure refused 
to fare differently from the others. 

On the twelfth of May the order of ban- 
ishment came; and Mrs. McLure, accom- 
panied by her son Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, 

and a number of other South- 
from'lTome ^™ sympathizers, were put 

on board the '' Sultana" and 
sent under guard to Memphis. There they 
were transferred to a train and run out as 
far as the condition of the road would per- 
mit, and then again transferred to ambu- 
lances that had been used the day before to 
move the dead and wounded after a skirmish, 
and yet bore the bloodstains on the floor. 
Major McKinney, who had charge of the 
exiles, did all in his power to lessen the hard- 
ships of the journey, which were great in- 
[ 339 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

deed. On one occasion, for instance, no house 
could be reached; and bedding being scarce, 
the party had to spread sheets on the ground 
and sleep so, as all the blankets were needed 
for covering. The Major seemed greatly sur- 
prised at the character of his prisoners, and 
even went so far as to tell them that if he 
had known the personnel of his party he 
would have brought his bride along — a state- 
ment he would not have made at the end of 
his journey most certainly — for as they 
reached a point about sixty miles from Oko- 
lono a countryman in brown homespun came 
out and asked the ladies in the rear ambu- 
lance, what was the meaning of this strange 
sight — a lot of women and children escorted 
by Yankee troops ? And when informed that 
they were prisoners, replied, "If this is what 
they are making war on, God help us ! " Just 
as he turned off the Major rode up and asked 
what the man had been saying. Before any- 
one else could think of an answer, Mrs. Gen- 
eral Frost replied, "He was telling us the 
woods were full of Bushwackers, many hun- 
dred strong, and we might run into a party 
of them at any moment." The color left the 
[340] 



The Prison for Women 

Major's face, and it is needless to say, he did 
not then wish he had brought his bride. He 
at once asked for a towel, put it on a pole, 
hurried forward a flag of truce to Okolona, 
with the request that General Ruggles, who 
was in command there, would send out an 
escort for the prisoners. The general came 
out himself and escorted them to his head- 
quarters, where they were most kindly and 
courteously welcomed, and every comfort 
possible afforded them. After a few days 
they received a pressing invitation from 
Columbus, Mississippi, to make it their home, 
which invitation they gratefully accepted, 
and were most cordially received and enter- 
tained; and the weary fugitives soon felt at 
home in hospitable Columbus. 

Mrs. McLure was entertained by the widow 
of the noted philanthropist and Methodist 
minister, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, where she 
remained until after the fall of Yicksburg. 
Immediately after that sad event, the First 
Missouri Brigade, under General Cockrell 
and other troops, established a camp for pa- 
roled prisoners at Demopolis, Alabama. Soon 
thereafter they dispatched an officer, Lieuten- 
[341] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

ant Hale, to Columbus, to bring Mrs. McLure, 
**the soldiers' friend," to see them. She had 
never refused aid or comfort to any Confed- 
erate soldier, and set off at once to see what 
she could do for the poor fellows who were, 
like herself, exiles from home. She went 
with the expectation of remaining only a 
week, and Avas the guest of Mrs. Gen. Na- 
thaniel Whitfield at their beautiful home, 
Gaineswood. This invitation was highly ap- 
preciated by Mrs. McLure and the Missouri 
brigade, who were sorely perplexed when they 
found that refugees from in and around 
Vicksburg had so filled up the little town 
that not a room was to be had for love or 
money. It proved a most happy arrange- 
ment, for when the week's visit came to an 
end an invitation so cordial and hearty was 
extended by Mrs. Wliitfield in her own and 
the General's name that Mrs. McLure would 
make their ''house her home till the war was 
ended, if it ever did," it could but be ac- 
cepted. Her son soon joined her and secured 
a good position, and Mrs. McLure remained 
until after the close of the war, growing daily 
more fondly attached to the lovely family 
[ 342 ] 



The Prison for Women 

who had taken her in as a stranger, but had 
become, and ever remained close and devoted 
friends. 

After all was lost, with a heart saddened 
for life, Mrs. McLure returned to St. Louis ; 
and it has been the rare privilege of many 
of us to know how, in the evening of life, 
when rest and personal comfort would seem 
to be her paramount object, her whole 
strength and thought was given to her loved 
woi^, the care of Confederate soldiers. 



[343] 



XXIX 
ACTION AND EE ACTION 

It is said in the South that ' ' innocent Yan- 
kees" suffered in public esteem for the sins 
of the guilty. The outrages committed by 
some of the Federal soldiers against the prop- 
erty and persons of the non-combatant popu- 
lation often caused Southern people to class 
all ''Yankees" under one head — and ''that a 
very bad one." This was doubtless a natural 
attitude; nevertheless, nearly all the diaries 
of Southern women present protests against 
this lack of discrimination on the part of 
some of their compatriots.* 

In the bitterness of their wholly justified 
indignation after Butler's occupation of New 
Orleans, the. Southern women of the Gulf 
States in particular sought to treat the in- 
vaders as outcasts. Consequently, they ever 
became deeply suspicious of any of their own 
people who offered voluntary social enter- 



*See also the protest of a Northern officer in his letter 
to Miss Mary A. H. Gay, p. 306. 

[344] 



Action and Reaction 

tainment to the onomy niidoi- any circum- 
stances. 

The counter protests against this general 
suspicion is illustrated in the journal of Sarah 
Fowler Morgan, who at the time of the war, 
was a young girl of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

On May 14, 1862, Miss Morgan wrote:* 

Yesterday tlie town was in a ferment 1)0- 
cause it was reported tlie Federal officers had 
called at the Miss Morgans. 

Protesting against wholesale condemnation 
of the ''Yanlvees," she added: 

I have a brother-in-law in the Federal army 

whom I love and respect as much as anyone 

in the world, and shall not readily agree that 

his being a Northerner would 

Wa/°* ^^^ ^^^^' ^^^^^^ '^^^ irresistible desire 

to pick my pockets, and to take 
from him all power of telling the truth. No I 
There are few men I admire more than Major 
Drum, and I honor him for his independence 
in doing what he believes right. Let us have 
liberty of speech and action in our land, I 
say, but not gross abuse and calumny. Shall 

*Quotation8 are taken from "A Confederate Girl's 
Diary," published by the Houghton, Miiiliu Company. 

[345] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

I acknowledge that the people we so recently 
called our brothers are unworthy of con- 
sideration, and are liars, cowards, dogs ? Not 
I ! If they conquer us, I acknowledge them as 
a superior race; I will not say that we were 
conquered by cowards, for where would that 
place us ? It will take a brave people to gain 
us, and that the Northerners undoubtedly are. 
I would scorn to have an inferior foe ; I fight 
only my equals. These women may acknowl- 
edge that cowards have won battles in which 
their brothers were engaged, but I, I will ever 
say mine fought against brave men, and won 
the day. Which is most honorable ? 

Three days later, the news of ''Ben" 
Butler's New Orleans proclamation reached 
Baton Eouge, and Miss Morgan wrote : 

A new proclamation from Butler has just 
come. It seems that the ladies have an ugly 
way of gathering their skirts when the Fed- 
erals pass, to avoid any pos- 
ms Kind sible contact. Some even turn 

up their noses. Unladylike, 
to say the least. . . . Butler says, where- 
as the so-called ladies of New Orleans insult 
his men and officers, he gives one and aU per- 
[3461 



Action and Reaction 

mission to insult any or all who so treat them, 
then and there, with the assurance that the 
women will not receive the slightest protec- 
tion from the Government, and that the men 
will all be justified. I did not have time to 
read it, but repeat it as it was told to me by 
mother, who is in utter despair at the brutal- 
ity of the thing. These men our brothers? 
Not mine ! Let us hope for the honor of their 
nation that Butler is not counted among the 
gentlemen of the land. And so, if any man 
should fancy he cared to kiss me, he could 
do so under the pretext that I had pulled my 
dress from under his feet ! That will justify 
them! And if we decline their visits, they 
can insult us under the plea of a prior affront. 
Oh ! Gibbes ! George ! Jimmy ! never did we 
need your protection as sorely as now. And 
not to know even whether you are alive! 
When Charlie joins the army, we will be de- 
fenseless, indeed. Come to my bosom, my 
discarded carving-knife, laid aside under the 
impression that these men were gentlemen. 
We will be close friends once more. And if 
you must have a sheath, perhaps I may find 
one for you in the heart of the first man who 
[347] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

attempts to Butlerize me. I never dreamed 
of kissing any man save my father and 
brothers. And why anyone should care to 
kiss anyone else, I fail to understand. And 
I do not propose to learn to make exceptions. 

Miss Morgan's diary records the story of 
the panic at Baton Rouge on the 30th of May, 
1862. 

On that day she wrote : 

I was packing up my traveling desk with 
all Harry's little articles that were left to me, 
and other things, and I was saying to myself 
that my affairs were in such confusion that 
if obliged to run unexpectedly, I would not 
know what to save, when I heard Tilly's voice 
downstairs, crying, as she ran in — she had 
been out shopping — **Mr. Castle has killed 
a Federal officer on a ship, and they are going 
to shell" — Bang! went a cannon at the word 
and that was all our warning ! 

After describing the confusion of the 
household as the Federal shells began to burst 
over the town, the diary continues: 

But the next minute we were all off, in 
safety. A square from home, I discovered that 
boys' shoes were not the most comfortable 
[348] 



Action and Reaction 

things to run in, so I ran back, in spite of 

cannonading, entreaties, etc., to get another 

pair. I got home, found an old 

Jf^Baton^RoSge P^^^ ^^^* ^^^® ^^ ^^ means re- 
spectable, which I seized with- 
out hesitation; and being perfectly at 
ease, thought it would be so nice to save at 
least Miriam's and my toothbrushes. So I 
slipped them in my corset. These in, of 
course we must have a comb — and that was 
added — then how could we stand in the sun 
without starch to cool our faces? This in- 
cluded the powder-bag ; then I must save that 
beautiful lace collar ; and my hair was tumb- 
ling down, so in went the tucking-comb and 
hair-pins with the rest; until, if there had 
been anyone to speculate, they would have 
wondered a long while at the singular appear- 
ance of a girl who is considered slight, 
usually. By this time, Miriam, alarmed for 
me, returned to find me, though urged by Dr. 
Castleton not to risk her life by attempting 
it, and we started off together. 

As we stood in the door, four or five shells 
sailed over our heads at the same time, seem- 
ing to make a perfect corkscrew of the air — 
[349] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

for it sounded as though it went in circles. 
Miriam cried, ''Never mind the door!" 
mother screamed anew, and I stayed behind 
to lock the door, with this new music in my 
ears. We reached the back gate, that was on 
the street, when another shell passed us, and 
Miriam jumped behind the fence for protec- 
tion. We had only gone half a square when 
Dr. Castleton begged us to take another 
street, as they were firing up that one. We 
took his advice, but found our new street 
worse than the old, for the shells seemed to 
whistle their strange songs with redoubled 
vigor. The height of my ambition was now at- 
tained. I had heard Jimmy laugh about the 
singular sensation produced by the rifled 
balls spinning around one's head; and here 
I heard the same peculiar sound, ran the 
same risk, and was equal to the rest of the 
boys, for was I not in the midst of flying 
shells, in the middle of a bombardment? I 
think I was rather proud of it. . 

Three miles from town we began to over- 
take the fugitives. Hundreds of women and 
children were walking along, some bare- 
headed, and in all costumes. Little girls of 
[350] 



Action and Reaction 

twelve and fourteen were wandering on alone. 
I called to one I knew, and asked where her 

mother was; she didn't know; 
Women and gj^^ would walk on until she 
Under Fire found out. It seems her 

mother lost a nursing baby, too, 
which was not found until ten that night. 
White and black were all mixed together, and 
were as confidential as though related. All 
called to us and asked where we were going, 
and many we knew laughed at us for riding 
in a cart; but as they had walked only five 
miles, I imagined they w^ould like even these 
poor accommodations if they were in their 
reach. 

The negroes deserve the greatest praise 
for their conduct. Hundreds were walking 
with babies or bundles ; ask them what they 

had saved, it was invariably, 
Splendid "My mistress's clothes, or 

Population they had for themselves, it was, 

"Bless your heart, honey, I 
was glad to get away with mistress 's things ; 
I didn 't think 'bout mine. ' ' 

It was a heart-rending scene. Women 
[351] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

searching for their babies along the road, 
where they had been lost; others sitting in 
the dust crying and wringing their hands; 
for by this time we had not an idea but what 
Baton Rouge was either in ashes, or being 
plundered, and we had saved nothing. I had 
one dress, Miriam two, but ^'Tiche" had 
them, and we had lost her before we left 
home. 



[352] 



XXX 

WAR TIMES IN NEW ORLEANS 

During the war, President Lincoln made it 
clear that the South could ''come back into 
the Union" with slavery intact; the Eman- 
cipation Proclamation was a 
t^hfAiomfinist war measure only. It specific- 
ally did not apply to any of the 
slaves in Federal-controlled territory, and it 
could be revoked on its application to terri- 
tory not under Federal rule. Although lit- 
tle realized to-day, it is a matter of historical 
record that Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. 
Lee were in complete accord in regard to 
slavery and emancipation and the methods to 
be used to do away with the former and pro- 
mote the latter. 

A few years after Henry Clay and Abra- 
ham Lincoln had denounced the violence of 
the ultra-Abolitionists, Robert 
Robert E. Lee ^ Lgg wrote : ''In this en- 
on Emanci- t i . i ,-, o t 

^jq^ lightened age, there are tew, I 

believe, but will acknowledge 
that slavery as an institution is a moral and 
[353] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

political evil. It is useless to expatiate on its 
disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil 
to the white than to the colored race, and 
while my feelings are strongly interested in 
the latter, my sympathies are more deeply 
engaged for the former. The blacks are im- 
measurably better off here than in Africa — 
morally, socially, and physically. . . . 
Their emancipation will sooner result from 
the mild and melting influence of Christian- 
ity than from the storms and contests of 
fiery controversy. This influence, though 
slow, is sure. The doctrines and miracles of 
our Savior have required nearly two thou- 
sand years to convert but a small part of the 
human race, and even among Christian na- 
tions what gross errors still exist ! While we 
see the course of the final abolition of slavery 
is still onward, and we give it the aid of our 
prayers and all justifiable means in our 
power, we must leave the progress as well 
as the result in His hands, who sees the end 
and who chooses to work by slow things, and 
with whom a thousand years are but as a 
single day. The abolitionist must know this, 
and must see that he has neither the right 
[354] 



Wm' Times in New Orleans 

nor the power of operating except by moral 
means and suasion; if he means well to the 
slave he must not create angry feelings in 
the master. Although he may not approve of 
the mode by which it pleases Providence to 
accomplish its purposes, the result will never- 
theless be the same ; and the reason he gives 
for interference in what he has no concern 
holds good for every kind of interference 
with our neighbors when we disapprove of 
their conduct."* 

Amid much personal detail and matters of 
a more or less trivial character, some of the 
most interesting comments on contemporane- 
ous happenings recorded in any journals or 
diaries of the Southern women are those of 
Julia LeGrand, a young girl of Maryland 
birth but whose home was in Louisiana at 
the time of the sectional conflict. The pre- 
ceding historical notes bear directly upon the 
following observations of this young chron- 
icler of the events of her day. 



*Quoted. in G. F. R. Henderson's "Campaigns of Stone- 
wall Jackson" (large English edition), Vol. I, p. 108. 
Compare quotation in Foreword from writings of Bishop 
Hopkins, of Vermont. 

[355] 



The Women of the Sottih in War Times 

Vnder date of Febniary ilO. 18^3. after 
reading a speech by AVeiuiell rhilUps, Miss 
LeGraiid added to the general condemnation 
of the intemperate bigotry of the extreme 
type of abolitionist the following specilio and 
forceful Avords : 

No Jacobin of France, not even Robes- 
pierre, ever made so infamous a one. He 
says an aristocracy like that of the South has 
never been gotten rid of except by the sac- 
rifice of one g-eneration ; they can never have 
peace, he says, until "'every slave-holder is 
either killed or exiled." He does not approve 
of battles — the negroes should he turned 
loose and incited to rise and slay. '*They 
know, by instinct, the whole prograunne of 
what they hfive to do." he says. 

Under date of January 21, 1S6S. Miss Le- 
Grand writes; 

Two long trains of artillery passed our 
door to-day. 

One young officer particularly attracted 
my attention: he looked so truly gallant — 
some mother's darling. I know. In his young 
enthusiasm he has come to fight for the 
Vnion; he will die for it, probably, without 
[3561 



War Timca in New Orleans; 

in any way contributing to its restoration. 
Wo find a groat (Jiflororico in tlio njipoaranco 
of Banks' tj-oopH and those oj' Jjutl<ir. A l^'ed- 
eral officer stopped at Mrs. Harrison's gate 
a day or two ago, asking for a few rose-buds 
that he might press them to send to his wife ; 
there are no flowers where she is now. This 
pure remembrance and thought of the sol- 
dier touched me. I was touched, too, at the 
remark of a private passing the gate. ''Here 
I am," said he, ''so many miles from home, 
and not a soul that cares a damn whether I 
live or die, or what becomes of me." An- 
other remarked, when the newsboy cried out : 
"A new order," "I wish it were an order 
for peace and. one to go home. ' ' 

Mrs. Norton got quite impatient with Miss 
Marcella Wilkinson to-day for jjraising sev- 
eral of the officers who had been kind to her 
family, and who had inter- 
A Young Girl's (.^{(.f^ themselves in procuring 

Idealism and ,, , i> i i xi i 

Philosophy ^^^ release or her brother, who 

had been arrested by Butler. 
Mrs. N. thinks no one can be a true South- 
erner and praise a Yankee. She thought it 
no honor "to be treated decently by one of 
[357] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

the wretches; she wished the devils were all 
killed." There is a difference even among 
devils, it seems, as some of Banks' people 
do try to be kind to us, while Butler's were 
just the reverse. How few people have an 
enlarged liberality ! I wonder if it will ever 
be possible for a novelist to render to view 
the faults of his countrymen in this land ; the 
mention of one failing even in private con- 
versation raises a sort of storm, not always 
polite either. I am thought all sorts of things 
because I endeavor to do justice to all parties ; 
one day I am an abolitionist, another a 
Yankee, another too hot a "rebel," another 
all English, and sometimes I love my Mary- 
land, and no other State ; all the while I love 
my own land, every inch of it, better than all 
the world and feel a burning desire ever 
Idndling in my heart that my countrymen 
should be first in all the world for virtue. 
They are so kind, so generous, so brave, so 
gallant to women that I desire for them all 
the good that belongs to human character, the 
graces of chivalry, as well as its sturdy man- 
hood, and the elegant liberality of philosophy 
and benevolence. 

[ 358 ] 



War Times in New Orleans 

Under men of Butler's type it became in- 
creasingly difficult for Northern officers of 
the best intentions and social instincts to 
show kindness to Southern ''rebels." Miss 
LeGrand in her "Journal" under date of 
February 3, 1863, writes : 

The Federal rulers here are less accessible 

than the most august of sovereigns, and even 

if one is admitted they send him from one to 

another until his patience is 

Chivalry of worn out, each official seeming 
Colonel Clarke, . t j^ ±i -i , • ^ ^ 

U Q ^ to emulate the last m rude be- 

havior — with the single ex- 
ception of Colonel Clarke, who has been dis- 
missed from office, having shown what the 
Yankees here term "secesh" tendencies. He 
is a gentleman and Ginnie* says a most sor- 
rowful one. Before we went to Greenville, 
Mrs. Norton, Ginnie, and Mrs. Dameron went 
to the city hall — found there a great 
crowd through which they had to wedge their 
way. 

A young official made his appearance and 
after roughly demanding what their business 



* Julia LeGrand's sister, Virginia. 

[359] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

was, was answered curtly by Mrs. Norton, 
"I don't intend to tell you my business," said 
she, ''I will go to headquarters." She makes 
a point of always speaking in this way and 
cannot be persuaded that she gives them 
great advantage over her. "Well, Madam," 
returned the young man, "I don't want to 
know your business, and if you can't tell it, 
just step back until others are served who 
can." Mrs. Dameron blushed and said, ''Ah, 
why will Ma put herself in a position to be 
insulted?" Ginnie and she got out of the 
way as fast as possible, and Mrs. Norton was 
so innocent about it that she didn't know 
what they meant by feeling abashed. Colonel 
French sat with his feet in the air, answered 
almost rudely when spoken to, and gave them 
no satisfaction. Colonel Clarke, though out 
of office that very day and to be succeeded by 
a creature called Colonel Bowgen, did all he 
could toward granting their requests. Mrs. 
Norton and Ginnie got arrest papers for 
servants, also registered foi" passports. 
Colonel Bowgen watched Colonel Clarke 
sharply, fearing, Ginnie said, that he might 
do or promise something kind. "Colonel 
[ 360 ] 



War Times in New Orleans 

Clarke has a soft spot in his heart, ' ' he signifi- 
cantly remarked. 

For this soft spot he has been dismissed 
from office; he goes out to the verge of ''re- 
beldom, ' ' however, with all exchanged prison- 
ers and enemies, whenever they are sent, and 
is always so kind, so truly generous that 
many are attached to him. One lady who had 
smuggled a Confederate flag felt compunc- 
tions after receiving so much kindness and 
brought it out to the Colonel. He had not 
permitted either their trunks or persons to be 
searched. She waved her little flag and said 
that she loved it and asked his permission to 
carry it over the lines; '^Oh, yes,'* said he, 
* ' take it ; I don 't think it will cause the death 
of any of us." 

The trip to the lines that time was a de- 
lightful one, both to the ladies and Colonel 
Clarke, and upon the arrival of the boat at 
Madisonville, two hundred Confederate sol- 
diers marched down to meet the ladies. 

Oh! such a time! such a joyful meeting! 

Our soldiers went on board and had quite a 

''jollification," it is said, and were kindly 

entertained by the Federal officers. This was 

[361] 



TJic Women of the South in War limes 

as it should be, but things will never be con- 
ducted in that way again. The last time the 
enemies went out. Colonel Clarke went with 
them, indeed, but he could do nothing which 
he wished. On being appealed to by a lady, 
he said, "Ah, madam, there is a new ruler in 
Jerusalem." On this occasion the ladies' 
trunks Avere searched, also their persons, with 
two exceptions. A little contraband quinuie 
was found and we Avere all glad to hear that 
one of the infamous women badly cut her 
hand whilst ripping up a lady's sleeve to 
look for it. Even babies were searched and 
left shivering in the cold without their clothes. 
Flannels were taken from all, and a little bag 
of flour which a very poor woman, who was 
gohig out to meet her husband, had taken to 
thicken her baby's milk, was cruelly thro"sm 
into the water. 

Eecollections of a runaway maid brought 
forth these interesting reflections on racial 
attributes from Miss LeCrrand. 

To-day I tried to do up my collars and 
other flneries — failed and felt anything but 
spiritual minded. I got angiy with my irons 
whicli would smut my muslins, and then got 



War Times in New Orleans 

angry with myself for having been angry — 
finally divided the blame, giving a part to 

Julie Ann for running away 
Relations ^^^ leaving me to do her work, 

Kaggs and by her thefts, with less 

money wherewithal to procure 
others to do it for me. If Julie's condition 
was bettered, if she had been made a higher 
being by the sort of freedom she has chosen, I 
could not find it in my conscience to regret her 
absence; but I hear of her that she is a de- 
graded creature, living a vicious life, and we 
tried so hard to make her good and honest. 

I once was as great an abolitionist as any 
in the North — that was when my unthinking 
fancy placed black and white upon the same 
plane. My sympathies blinded me, and race 
and character were undisturbed mysteries to 
me. But my experience with negroes has 
altered my way of thinking and reasoning. 
As an earnest of sincerity given even to my 
own mind, it was when we owned them in 
numbers that I thought they ought to be free, 
and now that we have none, I think they are 
not fit for freedom. No one unacquainted 
with negro character can form an idea of its 
[363] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

deficiencies as well as its overpluses, if I may 
so express myself; it is the only race which 
labor does not degrade. I do not mean that 
there is degradation in labor, but we all know 
that white men and women, whose minds are 
fettered with one constant round of petty pur- 
suits, are very different from their brothers 
and sisters who are better served by for- 
tune. . . . 

. . . I doubt not but that in the far gen- 
erations they will hold, and justly, a better, 
higher place. TN^en they are fit for it, the 
white man will not A^^thhold it. The inven- 
tions of science will make his labor less 
needed, and the example and influence of the 
white race, aided by the wholesome restraints 
of savage passions, will eventually make him 
a new being. Slavery indeed can not be con- 
sidered a good school for the white man, but 
it should be remembered by the fanatic that 
we found these people mere animals, and that 
physically and mentally our slaves are 
superior to their African progenitors. The 
white race is distorted by labor; hair, fea- 
tures, complexion, and shape — all tell the tale 
of hardship and labor. Not so with the negro ; 
[364] 



War Times in New Orleans 

they live so easily, generally speaking, so 
comfortably — these creatures whom fanatics 
are pitying, neglectful of the poor at their 
doors, and for whose possible benefit it is pre- 
tended that Federal soldiers are sent to die I 
America seems perishing of madness. 

In common with thousands of her fellow- 
countrymen. North and South, this young 
New Orleans girl largely misunderstood Lin- 
coln's sole purpose to preserve the Union and 
prevent the division of a great Eepublic. In- 
deed, she knew little about him except that 
which was vague and mythical. It is scarcely 
possible, therefore, that in expressing these 
comments upon the negro race, she was aware 
of the fact that she was elaborating in detail 
the views of President Lincoln himself in re- 
gard both to the limitations of the negro race 
and the future relations between the whites 
and the blacks. 

The '' national American'^ of to-day, be he 
of Southern or of Northern origin, may think 
it strange that this comparatively unknown 
Louisiana girl and Abraham Lincoln should 
not only have held but also have expressed 
[365] 



Uic Women of the South in War Times 

similar opinions in respect to one of the great- 
est problems of their day. Such is, never- 
theless, a fact. 

In a speech at Quincy, Illinois, Lmcoln 
said: "I have no purpose to introduce po- 
litical and social equality between the white 
and black races. There is a physical difter- 
ence between the two which, in my judgment, 
would probably forever forbid their living to- 
gether upon a f ootmg of perfect equality. ' ' 

To this statement, on another occasion, he 
added: "And inasmuch as they cannot so 
live, while they do remain together, there 
must be the position of superior and inferior, 
and I, as nmch as any other man, am in favor 
of having the superior position assigned to 
the white race." 

A year after this comment by Julia Le- 
Orand in her "Journal." President Lincohi 
wrote to Governor Hahn, in Miss LeGrand's 
own State of Louisiana: "I would barely 
suggest for your private consideration 
whether some of the colored people may not 
be let in" to the privilege of suttVage. 
Again, ho declared: "'\Miile I am in favor 
of freedom to all of God's human creatures, 
[ 3w ] 



War Ti))ics in New Orleans 

with equal political rights under prudential 
restrictions, I am not in favor of unlimited 
social equality. There are questions arising 
out of our complications tlint trouble me 
greatly. The question o( universal suffrage 
to the freedman in his unprepared state is 
one of doubtful propriety. I do not oppose 
the justice of the measure, but I do think it is 
of doubtful political policy and may re- 
bound like a boomerang not only on the Re- 
publican party, but upon the freedman him- 
self and our common country. ' ' 

About one year before President Lincohi 
wrote to Governor Hahn, Miss LeGrand set 
dovni in her diary : 

Mr. Dennian gave a description of a visit 

of Stafford (the general of the negroes) to 

the bank last summer. He came in with a 

shin-plaster, and with a hor- 

^^^^^^ rible oath told one of the bank 

Characteristics ,, . ,, , 

Reviewed gentlemen to pay the amount 

in gold. On being told that 

there was no gold, but that small notes would 

be issued soon, he swore terribly, drew his 

sword and flourished it in the wildest manner, 

threatening to cut their heads oft'. Mr. D. 

[367] 



Th^ )\\^m^*i of Sk^ Soi4tk in ir«r Ttm^^ 

o\vnt\i thnt li« w?i8 «s afraid of Mm as U<? 
\v\>uUi Iv of a hon\i\i doviL **IV jivt your 
May\>r down to Fort »lao.k^on.*' :!isid St:\t>\>ni 
grhiviiiv^ lu!55 tx\>th, **\vhoiv I ho^v th^^ ..., s 

q\iitiH\!5 will ^t out his d d heart/"' And 

mor\* of this sort, Th« banker lookcv! : t tV.c^ 
iiot\> and found it oin& of tKe oofl^> . s. < 
«\u>Ss with which th^ eity last spring v s 
flood^i: snd which Butlor ^\\>rv provvvly) 
had onioiwi to W nnWiwovi, said ho : "This 
is not v>ur noti?; vn? haw nothing to do vrith 
it,** \vhonnivx>n StatTv>rii tv»k it xip and turned 
T»und n^x>n a orv>\Yd of wonion and ohildrv»u 
who havi foUo\\>\i him into tho Ivank, tlourish- 
iiig his s\\\>rd o\»r thom and sw>?aring at 
th<t^m» 

This ort^atnro is bolow tho city* having in 
cvMumand 1,4<X^ noijroos, arm<\i and oquipp^l, 
wt»*ariu^ tho h^^thor bolt which othor soldiers 
w^N*r, having tho lottor^ T. ^ in hrass n^vm 
ii Tho onoi^ honoroii **St:ars and Stri^n^s** 
<>an W K>rno by such hands as those ! Many 
<rf the neirroes in camp hav^ yielded to 
tHiipt^tioiv. and been bejmiled by Yankee 
^k«h<HV^s into running away tYom their 
mastc>rs, now that they roaliie their positiv>n, 
l^J^Sl 



War Times in New Orleans 

wish to return to thorn. But Stafford refused 
to allow them to go home. . . . 

Nothing more clearly defines the subordi- 
nate position, or the real justice of their posi- 
tion, more than their total want of social 
virtues. ... A life of lounging around 
the streets, feeding at the expense of the 
United States Oovernment, has proved more 
enticing than the memories of wife or child. 
They have mostly gotten new mates. Mrs. 
Norton, in letters from her family and 
friends, is often charged with messages to 
servants who do not even wish to hear from 
those that are gone. I was once an abolition- 
ist, and resented for this race's sake their 
position in the awful scale of humanity. But, 
I verily believe, that negroes are not now de- 
veloped creatures. What they may be some- 
time I can not prognosticate, but I do believe 
in the law of progress. I call to mind the age 
when Britons wore skins, and hope for all 
things. 

Of the subsequent treatment of the negroes 
by some of their liberators. Miss LeGrand 
wrote, March 15, 1863 : 

Mrs. Norton went yesterday to get papers 
f 369 1 



The Wome)i of the SoutJi in War Times 

for her negroes, according to Federal com- 
mand — was qnite astonished to be asked if 
she had taken the oath. In giving answer she 
also managed to give offense to the official, 
who rudely told her to "Hush," whereupon 
she told him she would talk as much as she 
pleased in spite of all the Federals in New 
Orleans and not take the oath either. The 
Federal said he didn't care a daimi whether 
she took the oath or not. She then made a 
very proper answer — "You have proved a 
gentleman of the first stamp, sir," she said, 
"in swearing at an old lady; a very fine 
gentleman indeed." He was then silent and 
ashamed. 

Mrs. Dameron, Mrs. Doctor Stille, and 

Mrs. Wells all went to the same place to get 

papers for their servants and were treated 

very politely. To those who 

pressed great regTet that he 
was compelled not to issue passes for serv- 
ants belonging to disloyal people. Such 
servants are all caught up and forced by Fed- 
eral soldiers to work on the fortifications and 
plantations. I pity poor Julie Ann ; I wonder 
* [370] 



War Times in Neiv Orleans 

what death she will die ! She has never known 
real hardship. This step of the authorities 
here has given the negroes a great blow. So 
much for Federal philanthropy! Another 
instance of it. The Yankee Era said yester- 
day that the Indianola before her capture by 
the Confederates had been dispatched to de- 
stroy the cotton and plantation of Jeff Davis 
and his brother and to bring off all the male 
slaves — the male slaves, philanthropy! We 
hear constantly of negroes who are brought 
away univillingly from their home comforts 
and their masters — and not infrequently are 
these poor people robbed of all they have by 
their pretended saviors. Mrs. Wilkinson's 
old man was robbed on his plantation of his 
watch and money, and another of four hun- 
dred dollars, which had been hoarded up for 
a long time.* 



*Miss LeGrand's "Journal," (as preserved), ends 
abruptly in the year 1863, in the midst of a sentence. Part 
was published in 1911 by Miss Kate Mason Rowland and 
Mrs. Morris L. Croxall. Miss LeGrand was born in Mary- 
land, brought up largely in Louisiana, and married and 
died ia Texas. 



[371] 



XXXI 

FURTHER EXCERPTS FROM THE 
DIARY OF MRS. McGUIRE: 

Januaky, 1864, TO the Surrender of Lee at 
Appomattox* 

January 3. — Entered on the duties of my 
office on the 30th of December. So far I like 
it well. ''The Major" is very kind, and con- 
siderate of our comfort ; the duties of the of- 
fice are not very onerous, but rather confining 
for one who left school thirty-four years ago, 
and has had no restraint of the kind during 
the interim. The ladies, thirty-five in num- 
ber, are of all ages, and representing various 
parts of Virginia, also Maryland and Louis- 
iana. Many of them are refugees. It is mel- 
ancholy to see how many wear mourning for 
brothers or other relatives, the victims of 
war. One sad young girl sits near me, whose 
two brothers have fallen on the field, but she 
is too poor to buy mourning. I found many 



*Continued from p. 189. 

[372] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

acquaintances, and when I learned the history 
of others, it was often that of fallen fortunes 
and destroyed homes. One young lady, of 
high-sounding Maryland name, was banished 
from Baltimore, because of her zeal in going 
to the assistance of our Gettysburg wounded. 
The society is pleasant, and we hope to get 
along very agreeably. I am now obliged to 
visit the hospital in the afternoon, and I give 
it two evenings in the week. It is a cross to 
me not to be able to give it more time ; but we 
have very few patients just now, so that it 
makes very little difference. 

January 15, 1864 — My occupation at home 

just now is as new as that in the office — it is 

shoe-making. I am busy upon the second 

pair of gaiter boots. They are 

Occupations "^^^^ ^^ canvas, presented me 
by a friend. It was taken from 
one of our James River vessels, and has been 
often spread to the breeze under the *' Stars 
and Bars. ' ' The vessel was sunk among the 
obstructions at Drury's Bluif. The gaiters 
are cut out by a shoemaker, stitched and 
bound by the ladies, then soled by a shoe- 
maker ; for the moderate sum of fifty dollars. 
[ 373 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Last year lie put soles on a pair for ten dol- 
lars. Tliey are then blacked with the mate- 
rial used for blacking guns in the navy. They 
are very handsome gaiters, and bear pohsh- 
ing by blacking and the shoe-brush as well 
as morocco. They are lasting, and very cheap 
when compared with those we buy, which are 
from $125 to $150 per pair. We are certainly 
becoming very independent of foreign aid. 
The girls make beautifully fitting gloves of 
dark flannel, cloth, linen, and any other mate- 
rial we can command. We make very nice 
blacking, and a friend has just sent me a 
bottle of brilliant black ink, made of elder- 
berries. 

February 28, 1864 — One woman stood at 
a table cutting out work; we asked her the 
stereotyped question — ''Is there a very poor 
widow named Brown in this 
An Incident of direction ?" "No ladies; I 
People knows two Mrs. Browns, but 

they ain't so poor, and ain't 
no widows nuther. ' ' 

As neither of them was our Mrs. B., we 
turned away; but she suddenly exclaimed, 
"Ladies, will one of you read my husband's 
[374] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

last letter to me? for you see I can't read 
writing. ' ' 

As Mrs. R. took it, she remarked that it 
was four weeks old, and asked if no one had 
read it to her? '*0h yes, a gentleman has 
read it to me four or five times ; but you see 
I loves to hear it, for maybe I shan't hear 
from him no more." 

The tears now poured down her cheeks. 
"He always writes to me every chance, and 
it has been so long since he wrote that, 
and they tell me that they have been fighting, 
and maybe something has happened to 
him. ' ' 

We assured her that there had been no 
fighting — not even a skirmish. This quieted 
her, and Mrs. R. read the badly written but 
affectionate letter, in which he expressed his 
anxiety to see her and his children, and his 
inability to get a furlough. She then turned 
to the mantelpiece and with evident pride 
took from a nail an old felt hat, through the 
crown of which were two bullet-holes. It was 
her husband's hat, through which a bullet had 
passed in the battle of Chancellorsville, and, 
as she remarked, must have come ''very nigh 
[375] 



The Womett of tJw South in War Times 

grazing his head." AVe remarked upon its 
being a proof of his bravery, which gratilied 
her very nmoh; she then hung it np carefully. 
saying that it was just opposite her bed. and 
she never let it be out of her sight. 

March 10. lSo4 — There has been much ex- 
citement in Kichmond about Kilpatrick's and 
Dahlgren's raids, and the death of the latter. 
The camion roared around the 

Raids Around •. j.v i in ^i 

Richmond ^'-^^^'' ^^^ alarm-bell rang, the 

i*eserves w*ent out; but Rich- 
mond was safe, and we felt no alarm. As 
usual, they did all the injury they could to 
coimtry-people. by pillaging and burning. 
They steal every thing they can; but the 
people have become very adroit in hiding. 
Bacon, tiour. etc.. are put in most mysterious 
places; plate and handsome china are kept 
under groimd; hoi*ses are driven into dense 
woods, and the cattle and sheep are driven 
off. It is astonishing, though much is taken, 
how nmch is left. I suppose the raidei's are 
too nmch hurried for close inspection. 

May 13. — General Stuart died of his 
wounds last night, twenty-four hours after 
he was shot. He was a member of the Epis- 
[o7o] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

copal Church, and expressed to the Rev. Dr. 

Peterkin his resignation to the will of God. 

After much conversation with 

Death of i^ig friends and Dr. P., and 

General J. E. B. . . . , , , i • i 

gtjjgjt joining them m a hymn which 

he requested should be sung, he 
calmly resigned his redeemed spirit to the 
God who gave it. Thus passed away our 
great cavalry general, just one year after 
the immortal Jackson. This seems darkly 
mysterious to us, but God's will be done. The 
funeral took place this evening, from StL 
James 's Church. My duty to the living pre- 
vented my attending it, for which I am very 
sorry; but I was in the hospital from three 
o'clock until eight, soothing the sufferers in 
the only way I could, by fanning them, bath- 
ing their wounds, and giving them a word of 
comfort. 

May 23. — Our young relative, Lieutenant 
G., a member of General Stuart's staff, who 
was always near his person, has just been 
giving us a most gratifying account of Gen- 
eral Stuart's habits. He says, that although 
he considered him one of the most sprightly 
men he has ever seen, devoted to society, 
[3771 



The Women of the South in War Times 

particularly to that of the ladies, always so- 
cial and cheerful, yet he has never seen him 
do any thing, even nnder the strongest ex- 
citement, unbecoming his Christian profes- 
sion or his high position as a soldier ; he 
never saAv him drink, or heard an oath escape 
his lips; his sentiments were ahvays high- 
minded, pure, and honorable, and his actions 
entirely coincided with them. In short, he 
considered him, whether on the field or in the 
private circle, the model of a Christian gen- 
tleman and soldier. 

When speaking of his gallantry as an of- 
ficer. Lieutenant G.'s admiration knows no 
bounds. He speaks of the devotion of the 
soldiers to him as enthusiastic in the extreme. 
The evening before his fatal wound, he sent 
his troops on in pursuit of Sheridan, under 
the command of General Fitz Lee, as he was 
unavoidably detained for some three or four 
hours. General Lee overtook the enemy, and 
a sharp skirmish ensued, in which Sheridan's 
rear suffered very much. Li the meantime, 
General Stuart determined to overtake Gen- 
eral Lee, and, with his staff, rode very rap- 
idly sixteen miles, and reached him about 
[378] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

nightfall. They were halting for a few mo- 
ments, as General Stuart rode up quietly, 
no one suspecting he was there, until a plain- 
looking soldier crossed the road, stopped, 
peered through the darkness into his face, 
and shouted out, ''Old Jeb has come!" In 
an instant the air was rent with huzzas. Gen- 
eral Stuart waved his cap in recognition ; but 
called out in rather a sad voice, "My friends, 
we won't halloo until we get out of the 
woods!" intimating that there was serious 
work before them. 

June 11th, 1864. — On these highly cul- 
tivated plantations not a fence is left, ex- 
cept mutilated garden enclosures. The 
fields were as free from vege- 
Fate of the tation after a few days as the 

^6£ro6s on the 

Virginia Farms Arabian desert ; the very roots 
seemed eradicated from the 
earth. A fortification stretched across W., 
in which were embedded the fence rails of 
that and the adjoining farms. Ten thousand 
cavalry were drawn up in line of battle for 
two days on the two plantations, expecting 
the approach of the Confederates; bands of 
music were constantly playing martial airs in 
[379] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

all parts of the premises ; and whiskey flowed 
freely. 

The poor servants could not resist these in- 
toxicating influences, particularly as aboli- 
tion preachers were constantly collecting im- 
mense crowds, preaching to them the cruelty 
of the servitude which had been so long im- 
posed upon them, and that Abraham Lincoln 
was the Moses sent by Grod to deliver them 
from the "land of Egypt and the house of 
bondage, ' ' and to lead them to the promised 
land. After the eight days were accom- 
plished, the army moved off, leaving not a 
quadruped, except two pigs, which had en- 
sconced themselves under the ruins of a serv- 
ant's house, and perhaps a dog to one planta- 
tion; to the other, by some miraculous over- 
sight, two cows and a few pigs were left. Not 
a wheeled vehicle of any kind was to be 
found; all the grain, flour, meat, and other 
supplies were swept off, except the few 
things hid in those wonderful places which 
could not be fathomed even by the ''Grand 
Army. ' ' 

Scarcely a representative of the sons and 
daughters of Africa remained in that whole 
[380] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

section of country; they had all gone to 
Canaan, by way of York River, Chesapeake 
Bay, and the Potomac, — not dry-shod, for the 
waters were not rolled back at the presence 
of these modern Israelites, but in vessels 
crowded to suffocation in this excessively 
warm weather. They have gone to homeless 
poverty, an unfriendly climate, and hard 
work ; many of them to die without sympathy, 
for the invalid, the decrepit, and the infant of 
days have left their houses, beds, and many 
comforts, the homes of their birth, the mast- 
ers and mistresses who regarded them not so 
much as property as humble friends and 
members of their families. Poor, deluded 
creatures ! I am grieved not so much on ac- 
count of the loss of their services, though that 
is excessively inconvenient and annoying, but 
for their grievous disappointment. Those 
who have trades, or who are brought up as 
ladies ' maids or house servants, may do well, 
but woe to the masses who have gone with 
the blissful hope of idleness and free sup- 
plies ! We have lost several who were great 
comforts to us and others who were sources 
of care, responsibility, and great expense. 
[381] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

These particulars from W. and S. H. I have 
from our nephew, J. P., who is now a scout 
for General W. H. F. Lee. He called by to 
rest a few hours at his uncle's house, and 
says he would scarcely have known the bar- 
ren wilderness. 

The Northern officers seemed disposed to 
be courteous to the ladies, in the little inter- 
course which they had with them. General 
Ferrara, who commanded the 
Kindnesses of neo-ro troops, was humane, in 
Northern , . ^ ' i r? 

Officers havmg a comn made tor a 

young Confederate officer who 
died in Dr. B's house, and was kind in other 
respects. The surgeons, too, assisted in at- 
tending to the Confederate wounded. An of- 
ficer one morning sent for Mrs. N. to ask her 
where he should place a box of French china 
for safety; he said that some soldiers had dis- 
covered it buried in her garden, dug it up 
and opened it, but he had come up at this 
crisis and had placed a guard over it, and 
desired to know where she wished it put. A 
place of safety of course was not on the prem- 
ises, but she had it taken to her chamber. 
She thanked him for his kindness. He seemed 
[382] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

moved, and said, "Mrs. N., I will do what I 
can for you, for I cannot be too thankful 
that my wife is not in an invaded country." 
She then asked him how he could, with his 
feelings, come to the South. He replied that 
he was in the regular army and was obliged 
to come. Many little acts of kindness were 
done at both houses, which were received in 
the spirit in which they were extended. 

July 27. — General Early has returned 
from Maryland, bringing horses, cattle, etc. 
While near Washington, the army burned 
Mr. Montgomery Blair's house, which I can- 
not persuade myself to regret, and spared the 
residence of his father, by order, it is said, 
of General Breckinridge. I know that Gen- 
eral B. was right, but I think it required 
great forbearance, particularly in the sol- 
diers, who have felt in their own persons and 
families the horrors of this cruel war of in- 
vasion. It seems to our human view that un- 
less the war is severely felt by those in high 
authority, it will never cease. Hunter has 
just passed through the upper part of the 
Valley of Virginia, his pathway marked by 
fire and sword; and Sheridan has followed 
[ 383 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Early into Virginia, with no very gentle in- 
tent, I fear. 

In this connection, Mrs. McGnire copies in 
her diary General K. E. Lee's General Order 
Xo. 73, an order recently (1917) reprinted 
by the Boston Transcript as perhaps the 
finest model of military restraint known to 
history. The order given out at Chambers- 
burg, Pennsylvania, on June 27th, a few- 
days before the great clash at Gettysburg, 
reads in part : 

"The Commanding General has observed 
with marked satisfaction the conduct of the 
troops on the march, and confidently antic- 
ipates results commensurate with the high 
spirit they have manifested. Xo troops could 
have better performed the arduous marches 
of the past ten days. Their conduct in other 
respects has, with few exceptions, been in 
keeping with their character as soldiers, and 
entitled them to approbation and praise. 

"There have, however, been instances of 
forgetfulness on the part of some that they 
have in keeping the yet unsullied reputation 
of the army and that the duties exacted of us 
by civilization and Christianity are not less 
[ 384 1 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

obligatory in the country of the enemy than 
in our own. ... It must be remembered 
that we make war only on armed men, and 
that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs 
our people have suffered without lowering 
ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence 
has been excited by the atrocities of the 
enemy, and offending against Him to whom 
vengeance belongeth, without whose favor 
and support our efforts must all prove in 
vain. 

**The Commanding General therefore 
earnestly exhorts the troops to abstain, with 
most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or 
wanton injury to private property, and he en- 
joins upon all officers to arrest and bring to 
summary punishment all who shall in any 
way offend against the orders on this subject. 
(Signed) R. E. Lee, General."* 



*P. S. Worsley, the English scholar, wrote on the fly- 
leaf of a translation of Homer's Iliad forwarded to Gen- 
eral Robert E. Lee after Appomattox: 

"To General R. E. Lee, the most stainless of living com- 
manders and, except in fortune, the greatest, this volume is 
presented, with the writer's earnest sympathy and respect- 
ful admiration." 

To this he added verses on the fall of another "Troy," 
continuing : 

[385] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Shortly after this transcript in Mrs. 
McGuire's diary there is recorded from the 
testimony of friends one of those terrible ex- 
periences which it is thought best to omit 
from the pages of this book. It told of the 
unsuccessful effort to protect a home and a 
helpless colored girl from the basest elements 
of both white and black soldiery. Another 
part of this narrative reads as follows : 

Night now set in, and our apprehensions 
increased as the light disajDpeared ; we knew 
not what was before us, or what we should be 



"Ah, realm of tears! But let lier bear 

This blazon to the last of time: 
No nation rose so white and fair, 
Or fell so pure of crime. 

"The widow's moan, the orphan's wail, 

Come roiuid thee; yet in truth be strong! 
Eternal right, though all else fail. 
Can never be made wrong. 

"An angel's heart, an angel's mouth. 
Not Homer's, could alone for me 
Hymn well the great Confederate South — 
Virginia first, and Lee." 

The General, replying, wrote in part: 

"The undeserved compliment to myself in prose and 
verse, on the first leaves of the volume, I receive as your 
tribute to the merit of my countrymen who struggled for 
constitutional government. With great respect, your obe- 
dient servant, 

"K. E. Lee." 

[386] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

called on to encounter during the hours of 
darkness. We only knew that we were sur- 
rounded by lawless banditti, 
A Night of from whom we had no reason 

Terror in ^^ Gxpect mercy, much less 

kindness; but above all, there 
was an Eye that never slumbered, and an arm 
mighty to defend those who trusted to it, so 
we made the house as secure as we could, and 
kept ready a parcel of sharp case-knives 
(don't laugh at our weapons) for our de- 
fence, if needed, and went up-stairs, deter- 
mined to keep close vigils at night. Our two 
faithful servants, Jacob and Anthony, kept 
watch in the kitchen. Among the many faith- 
less, those two stood as examples of the com- 
fort that good servants can give in time of 
distress. About nine o'clock w^e heard the 
sound of horses' feet, and Jacob's voice un- 
der the window. Upon demanding to know 
what was the matter, I was answered by the 
voice of a gun-boat captain, in broken 
German, that they were going to fire over my 
house at the **Rebs" on the hill, and that we 
had better leave the house, and seek protec- 
tion in the streets. I quietly told our coun- 
[387] 



The Woynen of the South in War Times 

sellor that I preferred reraaining in ray own 
house, and should go to the basement, where 
we should be safe. So w^e hastily snatched up 
blankets and comforts, and repaired to the 
basement, where pallets were spread, and 
G. 's little baby laid dowai to sleep, sweetly un- 
conscious of our fears and troubles. We sent 
to apprise the Misses G. of the danger, and 
urge them to come to us. They came, accom- 
panied by an ensign, who had warded off 
danger from them several times during the 
day. He was a grave, middle-aged man, and 
was very kind. At the request of the ladies, 
he came into the room with us and remained 
until twelve o'clock. He was then obliged to 
return to the gun-boat, but gave us an effi- 
cient guard until daybreak. He pronounced 
Captain Schultz's communication false, as 
they had no idea of firing. We knew at once 
that the object had been to rob the house, as 
all unoccupied houses were robbed with im- 
punity. This gentleman's name was Nelson. 
I can never forget his kindness. During the 

night our relative, Mrs. B m, came to us 

in great agitation ; she had attempted to stay 

at home, though entirely alone, to protect her 

[388] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

property. She had been driven from her 
house at midnight, and chased across several 
lots to the adjoining one, where she had 
fallen from exhaustion. Jacob, hearing cries 
for help, went to her, and brought her to us. 
Our party now consisted of twelve females of 
all ages. As soon as the guard left us at day- 
break, they came in streams to the hen-yard, 
and woe to the luckless chicken who thought 
itself safe from robbers! At one o'clock on 
Monday the fleet of now eight steamers took 
its departure. Two of the steamers were 
filled with the deluded negroes who were leav- 
ing their homes. We felt that the incubus 
which had pressed so heavily upon us for 
thirty hours had been removed, and we once 
more breathed freely, but the village was left 
desolate and destitute. 

October 28. — An officer from the far South 
was brought in mortally wounded. He had 
lost both legs in a fight below Petersburg. 
The poor fellow suffered ex- 
Devotion cessively; could not be still a 
moment; and was evidently 
near his end. His brother, who was with him, 
exhibited the bitterest grief, watching and 
[389] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

waiting on him with silent tenderness and 

flowing tears. Mr. was glad to find 

that he was not unprepared to die. He had 
been a professor of religion for some years, 
and told him that he was suffering too much 
to think on that or any other subject, but he 
constantly tried to look to God for mercy. 

Mr. then recognized him, for the first 

time, as a patient who had been in the hos- 
pital last spring, and whose admirable char- 
acter had then much impressed him. 

He was a gallant and brave officer, yet so 
kind and gentle to those under his control 
that his men were deeply attached to him, 
and the soldier who nursed him showed his 
love by his anxious care of his beloved cap- 
tain. After saying to him a few words about 
Christ and his free salvation, offering up a 
fervent prayer in which he seemed to join, 
and watching the sad scene for a short time, 
Mr. left him for the night. The sur- 
geons apprehended that he would die before 
morning, and so it turned out; at the chap- 
lain's early call there was nothing in his room 
but the chilling signal of the empty ''hos- 
pital bunk." He was buried that day, and 
[390] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

we trust will be found among the redeemed 
in the day of the Lord. This, it was thought, 
would be the last of this good man; but in 
the dead of night came hurriedly a single car- 
riage to the gate of the hospital. A lone 
woman, tall, straight, and dressed in deep 
mourning, got quickly out, and moved rap- 
idly up the steps into the large hall, where, 
meeting the guard, she asked anxiously, 
' * Where 's Captain T. ? " Taken by surprise, 
the man answered hesitatingly, ''Captain T. 
is dead, madam, and was buried to-day." 

This terrible announcement was as a thun- 
derbolt at the very feet of the poor lady, who 
fell to the floor as one dead. Starting up, oh, 
how she made that immense building ring 
with her bitter lamentations! Worn down 
with apprehension and weary with traveling 
over a thousand miles by day and night, with- 
out stopping for a moment's rest, and wild 
with grief, she could hear no voice of symp- 
athy — she regarded not the presence of one 
or many; she told the story of her married 
life, as if she were alone — how her husband 
was the best man that ever lived ; how every- 
body loved him ; how kind he was to all ; how 
[391] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

devoted to herself; how he loved his chil- 
dren, took care of, and did everything for 
them; how, from her earliest years almost, 
she had loved him as herself ; how tender he 
was of her, watching over her in sickness, 
never seeming to weary of it, never to be un- 
willing to make any sacrifice for her comfort 
and happiness ; how that, when the telegraph 
brought the dreadful news that he was dan- 
gerously wounded, she never waited an in- 
stant nor stopped a moment by the way, day 
nor night, and now — ' ' I drove as fast as the 
horses could come from the depot to this 
place, and he is dead and buried! — I never 
shall see his face again!" ''What shall I 
do r '— " But where is he buried ! ' ' They told 
her where. "I must go there; he must be 
taken up; I must see him!" 

*'But madam, you can't see him; he has 
been buried some hours. ' ' 

"But I must see him; I can't live without 
seeing him; I must hire some one to go and 
take him up; can't you get some one to take 
him up? I'll pay him well; just get some 
men to take him up. I must take him home ; 
he must go home with me. The last thing I 
[392] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

said to his children was, that they must be 
good chihJren, and I wouhl bring their father 
home, and they are waiting for him now ! He 
must go; I can't go without him; I can't meet 
his children without him!" And so, with her 
woman's heart, she could not be turned aside 
■ — nothing could alter her purpose. 

The next day she had his body taken up 
and embalmed. She watched by it until every 
thing was ready, and then carried him back 
to his o-wn house and his children, only to 
seek a grave for the dead father close by 
those he loved, among kindred and friends in 
the fair sunny land he died to defend. 

December 26th. — The sad Christmas has 

passed away. J. and C. were with us, and 

very cheerful. We exerted ourselves to be 

so too. The Church services in 

Turkcyless at, • l ^ 

Christmas, 1864 ^^'' mornmg were sweet and 
comforting. St. Paul's was 
dressed most elaborately and beautifully with 
evergreens; all looked as usual; but there is 
much sadness on account of the failure of the 
South to keep Sherman back. When we got 
home our family circle was small, but pleas- 
ant. The Christmas turkey and ham were not. 
[393] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

We had aspired to a turkey, but finding the 
prices range from $50 to $100 in the market 
on Saturday, we contented ourselves with 
roast beef and the various little dishes which 
Confederate times have made us believe are 
tolerable substitutes for the viands of better 
days. At night I treated our little party to 
tea and ginger cakes — two very rare indulg- 
ences ; and but for the sorghum, grown in our 
own fields, the cakes would be an impossible 
indulgence. 

Nothing but the well-ascertained fact that 
Christmas comes but once a year would make 
such extravagance at all excusable. We pro- 
pose to have a family gathering when the 
girls come home, on the day before or after 
New Year's day, (as that day will come on 
Sunday,) to enjoy together, and with one or 
two refugee friends, the contents of a box 
sent the girls by a young officer who captured 
it from the enemy, consisting of white sugar, 
raisins, preserves, pickles, spices, etc. They 
threaten to give us a plum-cake, and I hope 
they will carry it out, particularly if we have 
any of our army friends with us. Poor fel- 
lows, how they enjoy our plain dinners when 
[394] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

they come, and how we love to see them en- 
joy them! Two meals a day has become the 
universal system among refugees, and many 
citizens, from necessity. The want of our 
accustomed tea or coffee is very much felt 
by the elders. The rule with us is only to 
have tea when sickness makes it necessary, 
and the headaches gotten up about dark have 
become the joke of the family. A country 
lady, from one of the few spots in all Vir- 
ginia Avhere the enemy has never been, and 
consequently where they retain their com- 
forts, asked me gravely why we did not sub- 
stitute milk for tea. She could scarcely be- 
lieve me when I told her that we had not had 
milk more than twice in eighteen months, and 
then it Avas sent by a country friend. It is 
now $4 a quart. 

January 2d, 1865. — The refugees in some 

of the villages are much worse off than we 

are. We hear amusing stories 

"Hot Water of ^ friend in an inland place. 
Coffee" and the -, j.i • n i i, 

"Hiring" of where nothmg can possibly be 

Skillets bought, hiring a skillet from a 

servant for one dollar per 

month, and other cooking utensils, which 

[395] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

are absolutely necessary, at the same rate; 
another in the same village, whose health 
seems to require that she should drink some- 
thing hot at night, has been obliged to resort 
to hot water, as she had neither tea, coffee, 
sugar, nor milk. These ladies belong to 
wealthy Virginia families. Many persons 
have no meat on their tables for months at 
a time; and they are the real patriots, who 
submit patiently, and without murmuring, to 
any privation, provided the country is doing 
well. The flesh-pots of Egypt have no charms 
for them; they look forward hopefully to 
the time when their country shall be dis- 
enthralled, never caring for the trials of the 
past or the present, provided they can hope 
for the future. 

January 8th. — A soldier in our hospital 
called to me as I passed his bed the other day : 

"I say, Mrs. McGuire, when do you think 
my wound will be well enough for me to go to 
the country?" 

''Before very long, I hope." 

**But what does the doctor say, for I am 
mighty anxious to go?" 

I looked at his disabled limb, and talked 
[396] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

to him hopefully of his being able to enjoy 
country air in a short time. 

"Well, try to get me up, for, you see, it 
ain't the country air I am after, but I wants 
to get married, and the lady don't know that 
I am wounded, and maybe 
Suggestions to she'll think I don't want to 
a Lovesick and come ' ' 

Wounded ''Ah," said I, **but you 

Soldier must show her your scars, and 

if she is a girl worth having 
she will love you all the better for having bled 
for your country ; and you must tell her that 

'* 'It is always the heart that is bravest in 

war, 
That is fondest and truest in love.' " 

He looked perfectly delighted with the 
idea ; and as I passed him again he called out, 
'*Lady, please stop a minute and tell me the 
verse over again, for, you see, when I do get 
there, if she is affronted, I wants to give her 
the prettiest excuse I can, and I think that 
verse is beautiful." 

[3971 



The Women of the South in War Times 

COUEAGE AND CHEEE IN THE MIDST OP PEIVATIONS 
AND SUFPEEING 

'* Starvation, literal starvation, was doing 
its deadly work. So depleted and poisoned 
was the blood of many of Lee's men from 
insufficient and unsound food that a slight 
wound which would probably not have been 
reported at the beginning of the war would 
often cause blood-poison, gangrene, and 
death. Yet the spirits of these brave men 
seemed to rise as their condition grew more 
desperate. ... It was a harrowing but 
not uncommon sight to see those hungry men 
gather the wasted corn from under the feet 
of half-fed horses, and wash and parch and 
eat it to satisfy in some measure their crav- 
ing for food." — General John B. Gordon, 
*'Eeminiscences of the Civil War." 

*' Winter poured down its snows and its 
sleet upon Lee's shelterless men in the 
trenches. Some of them burrowed into the 
earth. Most of them shivered over the feeble 
fires kept burning along the lines. Scanty 
and thin were the garments of these heroes. 
Most of them were clad in mere rags. Gaunt 
famine oppressed them every hour. One 
[ 398 ] 



Courage Under Privations, 

quarter of a pound of rancid bacon and a lit- 
tle meal was the daily portion assigned to 
each man by the rules of the "War Depart- 
ment. But even this allowance failed when 
the railroads broke down and left the bacon 
and the flour and the meal piled up beside the 
track in Georgia and the Carolinas. One- 
sixth of this daily ration was the allotment 
for a considerable time, and very often the 
supply of bacon failed entirely. At the close 
of the year, Grant had one hundred and ten 
thousand men. Lee had sixty-six thousand on 
his rolls, but this included men on detached 
duty, leaving him barely forty thousand sol- 
diers to defend the trenches that were then 
stretched out forty miles in length from the 
Chickahominy to Hatcher's Run." — Henry 
Alexander White, "Life of Robert E. Lee." 

When their own soldiers were suffering 
such hardships as these in the field, the Con- 
federate leaders made every effort to ex- 
change men so that the helpless prisoners of 
war would not suffer in anything like equal 
measure, offering even to send back prison- 
ers without requiring an equivalent. Hence, 
the charges brought against the Confederate 
[ 399 ] 



The Women of the South m War Times 

government of intentional ill-treatment of 
prisoners of war are not supported by the 
facts.* 

From brief but carefully prepared articles 
in the April and May issues of the Confed- 
erate Veteran, 1918, the following may here 
be quoted: 

It is recognized by all who have carefully 
investigated the prison question that the civil 
and military committees and commissions ap- 
pointed under strongly partisan auspices to 
look into the prison question rendered re- 
ports that are now known to be false. Shortly 
afterwards, Southern officials, hampered as 
they were at that time, made replies to these 
accusations and published some of them. 
These replies of the Southern officials con- 
tend: 

1. That, although it is not denied that 
there was terrible suffering and great mor- 
tality in Confederate prisons, this was due to 
circumstances beyond their control. 

2. That if the death rate be adduced as 
** circumstantial evidence of barbarity," the 



*See index for references to the subject in connectiou 
with ttie narxatjve si Mrs. Duckett, etc. 

[400] 



Treatment of Prisoners 

rate was as high or even higher in the major- 
ity of prisons in the North, where there was 
an abundance of food and where shelter 
could easily be provided.* 

3. That in the South the same quantity 
and quality of rations were given to prisoners 
and guards; but that variety in food could 
not be had or transported on the broken-down 
railway system of a non-manufacturing 
country, which system could not or did not 
provide sufficient clothes and food even for 
the Confederate soldiers in the field.f 



*OfRcial figures given out by Secretary Stanton show 
that 26,436 Confederates died in Northern prisons, and 
22,576 Union prisoners died in the South. Later figures, 
roughly estimated by the United States Pension Office, 
increased the Federal mortality at the South to 30,218. 
Incidentally the record of deaths in Northern prisons waa 
increased by several thousands. On the other hand, it is 
good to record that Confederate ex-prisoners themselves, 
out of their poverty, erected a memorial to Col. Richard 
Owen, commandant at Camp Morton, Indiana, in the first 
year of the war. As long as he was in charge, this noble 
man did all he could to mitigate the hardships of prison 
life, and scores of Confederate prisoners confined there 
have borne pathetic testimony to the allowance of both 
overcoats and blankets (two) — an allowance that was cut 
in half, at least, when they were transferred to other 
prisons. 

f The point as to variety in food is very important, for 
the lack of a wholesome variety caused certain diseases 
among the prisoners not suffered by the guards and Con- 
federate soldiers fed on the same rations. The former, for 
example, could not iu many cases eat the unbolted meal to 

[401] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

4. That the Confederacy had arranged for 
the exchange of prisoners by a special cartel, 
which cartel was deliberately disregarded by 
the Federal authorities.* 

5. That they offered to permit Federal 
surgeons to bring medical supplies to the 
prisoners, which offer was not accepted. 



which the Southerner was accustomed. This was partic- 
ularly true of the great number of German and other 
prisoners of foreign birth, of whom there were many thou- 
sands in the Southern prisons. The first group of prison- 
ers sent to Andersonville were several hundred foreigners. 
A large number of these foreigners and many native Amer- 
icans from the Northern States could not at first eat this 
unbolted meal without experiencing more or less serious 
digestive trouble which left them in a dangerously weak- 
ened condition. In 1918, under the caption "How Corn 
May Help Win the War," the United States Food Admin- 
istration sent out an advertisement which reads: "When 
we use more corn, the Allies, our associates in the war, 
can use more wheat. They cannot use corn meal instead 
of wheat in their daily diet, as we do, because neither their 
cooks nor their appetites are adapted to it.'* See also in- 
cident on p. 62. 

*The older partisan accounts, and present comparisons 
based upon these accounts, attempt to explain this by the 
statement that the Confederates refused exchange to 
negroes; but this point was brought up long after the 
cartel was systematically disregarded. There is an abund- 
ance of proof of this. The following extract from a letter 
from Gen. U. S. Grant to Gen. B. F. Butler, August 18, 
1864, over a year after the terms of the cartel were vio- 
lated, is indicative of the attitude of the highest Federal 
officers toward exchange: "It is hard," wrote Grant, "on 
our men in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it 
is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles." 

[402] 



Treatment of Prisoners 

6. That, as the needs of the prisoners in- 
creased, they offered to buy (finally with cot- 
ton or with gold) supplies for the prisoners, 
which offer was ignored. 

7. That medicines had been treated by the 
Federal government as contraband of war, so 
that the people of the South were often de- 
prived of necessary remedies, not only for 
their sick and wounded, but the prisoners as 
well. 

8. That prior to the period of the greatest 
mortality at Andersonville the Confederate 
authorities offered to release thousands of 
prisoners without requiring any equivalent in 
exchange if the Federal government would 
provide transportation for them. This offer 
was not accepted by the Federal government 
until too late to save the lives of thousands of 
those who died. 

9. That the control of the prisons in the 
North was turned over by Secretary Stanton 
and the vindictive and partisan men (who 
were later responsible also for the crimes of 
Reconstruction) to the lowest element of an 
alien population and to negro guards of a 
criminal type, and that such men as President 

[ 403 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Lincoln, Seward, McClellan, and the best 
people of the North were intentionally kept 
in ignorance of conditions in Northern 
prisons while officially furnished with stories 
as to "the deliberate cruelties" practiced in 
the South.* 



*This Confederate defense against the charge of whole- 
sale and deliberate cruelty to prisoners is amply sustained 
by the historical evidence at hand. The impartial his- 
torian, looking for all the salient facts, does find, how- 
ever, as a kind of flaw in the Confederate reply, 
admissions on the part of reputable authorities that 
there was evidence of executive failure in the commis- 
sary department. It may be said that the same fail- 
ure, in a more exaggerated form, was evident in the sup- 
ply department of the Army of Northern Virginia. The 
immediate cause of the surrender of General Lee was the 
failure of support on the part of his food trains. Although 
it is known that Abraham Lincoln teas told of the alleged 
cruelties in Southern prisons and that he was urged to 
denounce them publicly, it is a fact that President Lin- 
coln never did so. There is, on the contrary, evidence to 
show that he did not believe them. Being a keen judge 
of men, he well knew the character of both the accused 
and the accusers, the latter including both those who guilt- 
ily and willfully misrepresented the matter and these xoho 
honestly believed the misrepresentations. 

In the Confederate Veteran of March, 1918, Mr. B. W. 
Green, of Little Rock, Arkansas, wrote, in part : 

"The clothing of our soldiers was of cotton fabric and 
one thin blanket to the man. Shoes were sometimes issued, 
but usually we got them from home or from dead Yankees. 
The rations of the Southern soldier were a quarter of a 
pound of poor beef and a little corn meal. On the march 
he carried all he had on his back, including his kitchen 
utensils, which consisted usually of a frying pan. One 

[404] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 



April 3. — Yesterday morning (it seems 
a week ago) we went, as usual, to St. 
James's Church, hoping for a day of peace 
and quietness, as well as of religious improve- 
ment and enjoyment. How short-sighted we 
are, and how little do we know of what is com- 
ing, either of judgment or mercy! The 
sermon being over, as it was the first Sunday 
in the month, the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was administered. 

The day was bright, beautiful, and peace- 
ful, and a general quietness and repose 
seemed to rest upon the congregation, undis- 
turbed by rumors and apprehensions. While 
the sacred elements were being administered, 
the sexton came in with a note to General 



wagon was allowed to a regiment. Of course that went to 
the colonel's headquarters. The men had no wagon. 

"If you will pardon personal reference, I did not have 
an overcoat during the war. More than half of the time 
I had no coat at all. In 1864-'65 I was not in a house or 
tent of any kind for twelve months, and my protection from 
snow and ice and rain was a little cotton blanket. If 
there was complaint, it was very limited. We knew that 
the government could do no better ; therefore we accepted 
service willingly and joyfully. Do the men of our armies 
to-day appreciate the effort made by the government to 
make them comfortable? I hope they do." 

*Contiiiuation of Mrs. McGuire's diary. 

[ 405 ] 



The Women of the SoMfh m War Times 

Cooper, -whieii was handed Mm as he \ralked 
from the chancel, and he immediately left the 
church. It made me anxious ; but such things 
are not uncommon, and caused no excitement 
in the congregation. The services beiag 
over, we left the chnreh. and as the congrega- 
tions from the various churches were being 
mingled on Grace Street, our children, who 
had been at St. Paul's, joined us, on their 
wav to the usual fa mil y gatheriiig in our 
room on Sunday. 

After the salutation of the morning. J. re- 
marked, ia an agitated voice to his father, 
that he had just returned from the War De- 
partment, and that there was sad news — 
General Lee 's lines had been broken, and the 
city would probably be evacuated witiiiii 
twenty-four hours. Not until then did I ob- 
serve that every countenance was wild with 
excitement. The inquiry. "'TThat is the mat- 
ter i * ' ran from lip to lip. Xobody seemed to 
hear or to answer. An old friend ran across 
the street, pale with excitement, repeating 
what J. had just told us. that unless we heard 
better news from General Lee the city would 
be evacuated. We could do nothing; no one 
suggested anv thing to be done. 
[406] 



Diary of Mrs. McGwire 

After the evacuation of Richmond by the 
Confederates and its occupation by Federal 
troops, Mrs. McGuire's narrative continues: 

It soon became evident that protection 

would be necessary for the residences, and 

at the request of Colonel P., I went to the 

Provost Marshal's office to ask 

Richmond ^^^ •^_ ^^^ p ^^^ ^^^^^_ 

Surrendered 

tunately m the country, and 
only ladies were allowed to apply for guards. 
Of course this was a very unpleasant duty, 
but I must undertake it. Mrs. D. agreed to 
accompany me, and we proceeded to the City 
Hall — the City Hall, which from my child- 
hood I had regarded with respect and rever- 
ence, as the place where my father had for 
years held his courts, and in which our 
lawyers, whose names stand among the high- 
est in the Temple of Fame, for fifty years ex- 
pounded the Constitution and the laws. 

After passing through crowds of negro sol- 
diers there, we found on the steps some of 

the elderly gentlemen of the 
Richmond ^.-^^^r seeking admittance, which 

Surrender '^^'^^ denied them. I stopped to 

speak to Mr. , in whose 

co mm ission house I was two days ago 
[407] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

and saw him surrounded by all the stores 
which usually make up the establishment of 
such a merchant ; it was now a mass of black- 
ened ruins. He had come to ask protection 
for his residence, but was not allowed to en- 
ter. We passed the sentinel. Mrs. D. leant 
on me tremblingly; she shrank from the 
humiliating duty. For my own part, though 
my heart beat loudly and my blood boiled, I 
never felt more high-spirited or lofty than at 
that moment. A large table was surrounded 
by officials, writing or talking to the ladies, 
who came on the same mission that brought 
us. I approached the officer who sat at the 
head of the table, and asked him politely if 
he was the Provost Marshal. 

**I am the Commandant, madam,*' was the 
respectful reply. 

* ' Then to whom am I to apply for protec- 
tion for our residence 1 ' ' 

"You need none, madam; our troops are 
perfectly disciplined, and dare not enter your 
premises." 

' ' I am sorry to be obliged to undeceive you, 
sir, but when I left home seven of your sol- 
diers were in the yard of the residence op- 
[408] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

posite to us, and one has already been into 
our kitchen." 

He looked surprised, and said, "Then, 
madam, you are entitled to a guard. Captain, 
write a protection for the residence on the 
corner of First and Franklin Streets, and 
give these ladies a guard. ' ' 

This was quickly done, and as I turned to 
go out, I saw standing near me our old friend, 

Mrs. . Oh ! how my heart sank when I 

looked into her calm, sad face, and remem- 
bered that she and her venerable and highly 
esteemed husband must ask leave to remain 
in peace in their home of many years. The 
next person who attracted my attention was 
that sweet young girl, S. W. Having no 
mother, she of course must go and ask that 
her father's beautiful mansion may be 
allowed to stand uninjured. Tears rolled 
down her cheeks as she pressed my hand in 
passing. 

Other friends were there ; we did not speak, 
we could not; we sadly looked at each other 
and passed on. Mrs. D. and myself came out, 
accompanied by our guard. The fire was 
progressing rapidly, and the crashing sound 
[409] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

of falling timbers was distinctly heard. Dr. 
Read's church was blazing. Yankees, citizens, 
and negroes were attempting to arrest the 
flames. The War Department was falling in ; 
burning papers were being wafted about the 
streets. The Commissary Department, with 
our desks and papers, was consumed already. 
Warwick & Barks dale 's mill was sending its 
flames to the sky. Gary and Main Streets 
seemed doomed throughout ; Bank Street was 
beginning to burn, and now it had reached 
Franklin. At any other moment it would have 
distracted me, but I had ceased to feel any- 
thing. 

We brought our guard to Colonel P., who 
posted him; about three o'clock he came to 
tell me that the guard was drunk, and threat- 
ening to shoot the servants in the yard. Again 
I went to the City Hall to procure another. 
I approached the Commandant and told him 
why I came. He immediately ordered another 
guard, and a corporal to be sent for the arrest 
of the drunken man. The flames had de- 
creased, but the business part of the city 
was in ruins. The second guard was soon, 
"posted, and the first carried off by the collar. 
[410] 



Diary of Mrs. McGuire 

Almost every house is guarded; and the 
streets are now (ten o'clock) perfectly quiet. 
The moon is shining brightly on our captivity. 

God guide and watch over us ! 

April 16, 1865. — General Lee has returned. 
He came unattended, save by his staff — came 
without notice, and without parade; but he 
could not come unobserved ; as 
Appomattox: soon as his approach was whis- 
"The Old Order pg^ed, a crowd gathered in his 
Yielding Place P^^h, not boisterously, but re- 
to New" spectfully, and increasing rap- 

idlj as he advanced to his 
home in Franklin Street, between 8th and 9th, 
where, with a courtly bow to the multitude, 
he at once retired to the bosom of his be- 
loved family. 

When I called in to see his high-minded and 
patriotic wife, a day or two after the evacua- 
tion, she was busily engaged in her invalid's 
chair, and very cheerful and hopeful. ''The 
end is not yet," she said, as if to cheer those 
around her; ''Richmond is not the Confed- 
eracy." To this we all most willingly as- 
sented, and felt very much gratified and 
buoyed by her brightness. I have not the 
[411] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

heart to visit her since the surrender, but 
hear that she still is sangiiine, saying that, 
''General Lee is not the Confederacy," and 
that there is "life in the old land yet." He 
is not the Confederacy, bnt onr hearts sink 
within lis when we remember that he and his 
noble ai-my are now idle, and that we can no 
longer look upon them as the bulwark of onr 
laud. He has returned from defeat and dis- 
aster with the universal and profound ad- 
miration of the world, having done all that 
skill and valor cotild accomplish. 

The scene at the surrender was noble and 
touching. General Grant's bearing was pro- 
foundly respectful: General Lee's as courtly 
and lofty as the purest chivalry could re- 
quire. The terms, so honorable to all parties, 
being complied with to the letter, our anns 
laid down with breaking hearts, and tears 
such as stoutest warriors mav shed. 



[412] 



XXXII 

REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF THE 
LONE STAR STATE 

/~\VER and above the diaries and reminis- 
cences of Southern women of "the six- 
ties, ' ' there may be found on every hand brief 
accounts, prepared by their children or by 
their neighbors and friends, of incidents con- 
cerning their work. Many of the bravest of 
the women of war times have not given their 
reminiscences for publication in any form. 
It will be recalled that Tillie Russell refused 
to allow her name to be used in connection 
with Oregon Wilson's illustration of her 
heroism in saving the life of Randolph 
Ridgely on the field of battle. For that rea- 
son, the painting has gone forth to the world 
as a picture symbolical of a cause, for it is 
known merely as "A Woman's Devotion," 
without association of name, time, or place. 

It was particularly difficult for the com- 
piler of these pages in "far off New York and 
Maryland," to get accounts of war work in 
Texas, a State which then counted itself as 
[413] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

jnuch a part of the Confederacy as it connts 
itself a part of the Xatiou of to-day. On one 
occasion, while in search of historical mate- 
rial, the writer attended a Confederate re- 
union in the city of T\'ashington shortly be- 
fore the United States entered the "World 
War of the Twentieth Centniy. Some days 
thereafter, as he was hurrying through Union 
Station, he almost literally "ran across" a 
little lady then in her 7Sth year, who was 
engaged actively, energetically, an(J with 
characteristic courage and independence, in 
traveling alone from Xew York, where she 
had been visiting, to her home in Texas. As 
this wonderful little lady was none other than 
Mrs. Cornelia Branch Stone, recogTiized by 
all who know her as one of the most lovable 
characters in the entire South, the writer 
esteemed it a privilege to be, in passing, of 
some little assistance. This accidental meet- 
ing gave him the opportunity to ask Mrs. 
Stone for her experiences during the war, 
which were, however, at once discoimted by 
her as "nothing worthy of comment." and 
"no more than what was done by every other 
woman" in the Old South. A little investiga- 
[414] 



In the Lone Star State 

tion on the part of the editor, however, failed 
to convince him that this was strictly in ac- 
cordance with the records; and, two years 
later, he was able to obtain a brief account of 
Mrs. Stone's experiences. 

It should be recalled in this connection that 
the once independent Eepublic of Texas had 
been a member of the Union of the United 
States but a little over a decade when the War 
of Secession broke out. Texas then cast her 
fortunes with the South; for it was due to 
the South that she had been settled and de- 
veloped, and to Southern leaders she owed 
her place in the Union against the very de- 
termined opposition of many in the North 
who threatened the secession of their section 
if she should be so admitted.* 



*In 1843, the legislature of Massachusetts resolved: 
"That, under no circumstances whatever, can the people 
of Massachusetts regard the proposition to admit Texas 
into the Union in any other light than as dangerous to its 
continuance in peace, in prosperity, and in the enjoyment 
of those blessings which it is the object of a free govern- 
ment to secure." 

In the year 1844, the legislature 

"Resolved, * * * That the project of the annexa- 
tion of Texas, unless arrested on the threshold, may tend 
to drive these States into a dissolution of the Union." 

On Washington's Birthday, in 1845, the Governor of 

[415] 



The Women of the South iu War Tiines 

The women of Texas, then on the frontiers 
of Anglo-Celtic civilization in America, pre- 
pared for Avar just as their sisters in the East. 
Houston, the hrst capital of the 
The Work of Eepnblic, was a centre of activ- 

Mrs. Lucretia -, ,. i-. i j? j.-u ^ 

j^3jjl ity tor the work oi the women 

of the "Lone Star State." In 
the spring of 1S61, therefore, a society was 
formed for the benefit of those who had gone 
to the front for cause and country. The 
chosen leader of these women was Piety 
Lucretia Hadley, who had followed her hus- 
band. Judge T. B. J. Hadley, into Texas 
shortly after it had declared its independence 
from Mexico. From that time until the break- 
ing out of the war, Mrs. Hadley had led the 
women volunteers in every struggle with the 
then prevalent epidemics of yellow fever. 

As, from "Vncle Eemus" down, the 
nean'oes have been noted for their abilitv to 



Massachusetts approved a further series of resolutions, 
from which the following extract is taken: 

"Resolved, * * * And, as the powers of legislation, 
granted in the Constitution of the United States to Con- 
gress, do not embrace a case of the admission of a foreign 
state or foreign territory, by legislation, into the Union. 
such an act of admission would have no binding force 
whatever on the people of Massachusetts." 

[416] 



In the Lone Star State 

compass a maximum of fact and philosophy 
ill their quaint sayings, an idea of Mrs. Had- 
ley's ability may best he had from one of her 
faithful slaves, who said, on hearing that her 
mistress had been chosen to take charge of 
the war work of Houston, that indeed she was 
not surprised, for "day jus' had to ha^e de 
workin's of her min'." The following quota- 
tion adapted from a recent (1919) tribute to 
her memory serves to illustrate the war work 
of the women of Texas. 

When the society for war work was organ- 
ized in 1861, a great sale or bazaar was con- 
ducted under Mrs. Hadley's direction by 
which money was raised to buy material for 
soldiers' clothing, which the Confederate 
Government could not supply." Boxes of 
clothing were, therefore, sent to the armies in 
Virginia and Tennessee, until the material 
gave out, and when transportation, in the sec- 
ond year of the war, became too difficult or 
impossible. 

Although this kind of war work was there- 
after very largely prevented, Mrs. Hadley 
and the women under her charge could not 
permit themselves to be idle. As their repre- 
[417] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

sentative, Mrs. Hadley presented the case, 
therefore, to Major General Magrnder, then 
in command of the trans-Mississippi depart- 
ment, and she and the women were assigned 
to the making of cartridges and such other 
munitions of war as they could produce. Con- 
sequently, they made munitions until the 
material for that was also exhausted. Knit- 
ting was then undertaken by the women and 
when the eyes of their faithful leader became 
dim from overwork, she gave herself over to 
the spinning of cotton and wool for others to 
knit. 

In connection with the narrative of this 
knitting and sewing and the making of muni- 
tions by Mrs. Hadley and her associates in 
the Houston society of Confederate women, 
the following incident may be given in that 
it illustrates, on the part of those Northern- 
ers who knew of conditions in the South, their 
recognition that the cause of the South 
was built upon principles which they no less 
than their Southern brothers held to be 
sacred. 

It so happened that Mrs. Hadley had, a 
year or two before the war, bought a sewing 
[418] 



In the Lone Star State 

machine from two New Englanders who were 
acting as representatives in Texas for their 
company. Knowing these young men through 
the purchase of the machine, Mrs. Hadley 
told them that in view of the fact that the 
war was likely to be a long and serious one, 
they had better return to their homes while 
they could do so in safety. Immediately, one 
of the young men replied that he and his as- 
sociate had decided to make their homes in 
the South and that they would fight for it. 
They therefore went forth with the first com- 
pany of Confederates sent out from Houston 
and were afterwards assigned to Hood's 
Brigade. From that time on, no boxes of 
clothing were sent to that company without 
packages for these New England men, whose 
names were carefully written on them. Mrs. 
Hadley saw to it that they were well cared 
for until both had made the supreme sacrifice 
for the cause of their adopted country. 

The knitting went on as long as the raw 
material could be had. Blankets were turned 
into shirts, while carpets were turned into 
blankets, and these devoted women left no 
stone unturned to be of help, aid, and com- 
[419] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

fort to the defenders on Texas soil, or to act 
where possible on behalf of Texans fighting 
in distant States. Many were the testimo- 
nials afterwards presented to these women 
by soldiers who had, during the war, received 
clothing made from the sacrifice of the blank- 
ets in the homes of these women. 

It is said of Mrs. Hadley that, "she "passed 
through the bitter years of Eeconstruction 
with the same indomitable courage she had 
shown during the four years of war. She 
lived to see her beloved South reinstated in 
equal position with the North, prosperous in 
all lines, and so went to her rest at the age of 
ninety-two. If ever a life was full of 
good works hers was, so we leave her, 
confidently, in the hands of Him she served so 
well." 

The experiences of Lucretia Hadley were, 
in many ways, not unlike those of Cornelia 
Branch Stone, whose father was also one of 
the first Judges of Texas. 

Unlike Mrs. Hadley, however, Mrs. Stone 
was a native Texan. She was born in Nacog- 
doches in 1840, the year that Mrs. Hadley 
[420] 



In the Lone Star State 

moved to Houston. Her father was a Vir- 
ginian and in 1840 was Judge of one of the 
five Districts of the Republic 
Recollections of ^f Texas, each District be- 

Mrs. Cornelia . , ^ ,i 

Branch Stone "^^S as large as many of the 
States of the Union. In the 
words of Mrs. Stone : 

**My father and mother made that ancient 
town (as old as Philadelphia) their head- 
quarters, boarding in the home of General 
Thomas J. Rusk, then Secretary of War of 
the Republic of Texas. 

** Under the Constitution of that Republic 
my father was also one of the Justices of the 
Supreme Court — as the five District Judges 
comprised the Court. He had been a soldier 
at San Jacinto, which decisive battle re- 
sulted in the capture and destruction of the 
army of Santa Anna, the then President of 
Mexico. 

' ' On the organization of the Government of 
the Republic of Texas, he was elected to the 
first and second sessions of Congress, in 
which he served with distinction. He also 
was a member of the first legislature of the 
State of Texas ; but, while a member of that 
[^21] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

body, he suffered the almost total loss of his 
sight, which was later partially restored, 
although that misfortune had sacrificed his 
political and professional career. 

''In 1856, I was married at the immature 
age of sixteen, and my war experiences con- 
sisted of the organizing of the older children 
in the village school, and this group I dig- 
nified by the name of the Histrionic Society, 
of which I was the director and manager. Un- 
der the auspices of this organization, enter- 
tainments were given, the proceeds of which 
were used to purchase home-spun clothing 
from soldiers' wives who had no other rev- 
enue — this material having been made into 
clothing for our brave soldiers battling for 
homes and firesides. 

**At times we had companies of soldiers in 
camp near the village awaiting orders, and 
when sickness came to them we had the vil- 
lage hotel fitted up as an improvised hos- 
pital where we nursed, fed, and cared for 
them. Old linen sheets and linen underwear 
were torn up for bandages and lint, floors 
were stripped of carpets and rugs, and 
comforts were made of cotton. These were 
[422] 



In the Lone Star State 

packed and sent whenever possible to the 
nearest post. 

''My father died very soon after the first 
battle of Manassas, and although my husband 
was an invalid, he repeatedly, though unsuc- 
cessfully, applied for enlistment in the Con- 
federate army. My only brother was but 13 
when the war closed, and I felt that on me 
rested the responsibility for doing, on behalf 
of the family, what could be done for the Con- 
federate cause. It was not easy for the 
women of Texas to do much, as we had but 
little fighting on Texas soil save the battle of 
Galveston and the wonderful defense of 
Sabine Pass by a company of forty Irishmen 
who captured several hundred Union soldiers 
together with two transports and a gunboat, 
and thereby stopped an invasion of Texas. 
This engagement was a miracle of audacity 
and skill. In one sense, "camouflage" was 
used, for the guns which manned the fort held 
by the Immortal Forty, with one exception, 
were of wood ! ' ' 

Mrs. Stone, at Liberty, knew well of the 
work of Mrs. Hadley at Houston, some thirty 
miles distant. Both women were closely re- 
[ 423 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

lated to the leaders of Texas political and 
business life prior to the war and thereafter. 
Not only was Mrs. Stone's father prominent 
in the early days of the Eepnblie of Texas, 
bnt it is interesting" to note that her mother 
was the adopted daughter of Colonel and Mrs. 
"William H. Wharton. Colonel TNTiarton was 
the duly aeerediteil minister to the United 
States, and she was in Washington with the 
AYhartons when Colonel Wharton was the 
ambassador from the hidependent Kepublie 
of Texas. 

It may be said that it is partly because of 
the work of these splendid women that Texas 
was able sueoessfuUy to resist attack and in- 
vasion by Federal forces, and it may also be 
said that the State of Texas presented the 
spectacle of certain engagements unique in 
the annals of the war. It was there that vol- 
unteers in hastily trained infantry and cav- 
alry were converted into true ** marines'* for 
the capture of Federal shipping and supplies 
and even vessels of war. 

Li the second year of the war, troops under 
the command of General H. H. Sibley cap- 
[424] 



/;/ the Lone Star State 

tured the steamer Star of the ^Ycst, which, 

as is now ahnost forgotten, Avas the cause, 

on January 9th, of drawing the 

The Foot and ^j^| shots fired under a seces- 
Horse Marines • r, -, ^ ■ i 

of Texas ^^^^^^ "'^§"' ^"^^^^^^ ^he was turned 

back in her effort to sup- 
ply and provision Fort Sumter. It may 
be added here, therefore, that had it not been 
for the restraining suggestion of Richard 
Kidder Meade, a recent graduate of West 
Point and a descendant of Washington's 
noted aide-de-camp of the same name, Major 
Anderson might have then and there opened 
fire upon the South Carolina batteries, in 
which event war may have begun in January 
under Buchanan, rather than in April under 
the leadership of Lincoln. 

On another occasion. General John B. 
Magruder recaptured Galveston from the 
Federals with two ancient cotton steamers 
fitted up as ''gunboats" with decks protected 
by cotton bales. These crude craft were 
manned with 300 volunteer Texans armed 
largely with shotguns, but they served to dis- 
perse the squadron of Federal vessels in Gal- 
veston harbor, capturing and destroying the 
[4251 



The Women of the South in War Times 

greater part of them, so that the city was re- 
captured by the Confederates to be held by 
them to the end of the war. 

Still another one of these strange semi- 
naval combats took place at Sabine Pass. In 
September, 1863, General Banks dispatched 
5,000 troops on transports con- 
of'saWnrPass ^^^^^ by gunboats to force a 
landing at this Pass, with the 
object of taking Beaumont and Houston, 
whence it was expected that the interior of 
Texas could be reached by the use of the 
railroads. At the Pass, a little garrison of 
some forty-seven Texans under Lieutenant 
Dowling, captured, without the loss of a man, 
two of the gunboats, together with 350 prison- 
ers, and drove off the entire attacking force. 

Finally, it may be said that the last en- 
gagement of the War of Secession took place 
on the soil of Texas. This last battle was 

fought at Palmito Ranch near 
The Last Fxght g^^^^^g^^j^ ^^^^ ^3^ ^qq^^ 

wherein a force of 800 Federals was put to 
flight by a smaller number of Texans under 
command of Colonel Ford. A victorious pur- 
suit was halted when it was learned from the 
[426] 



In the Lone Star State 

prisoners that the Confederate Government 
had fallen and that the war was over. 

In the narrative of Mrs. Hadley, reference 

has been made to the possession and use of 

a sewing' machine. Comparatively few of the 

Southern women had this great 

by^"nd ^^^ ^^ ^^^ making of clothes. 

Mrs. John D. Weedon of 
Huntsville, Alabama, writes of the experi- 
ence of her mother, Mrs. Robert M. Patton 
of Florence: 

"We kept a number of garments to make 
at home. I was just through college, and I 
made, together with my mother and a serv- 
ing woman she had employed, uniforms, un- 
derwear, and several overcoats, so heavy that 
we had to work on them while lying on a 
table. Every stitch was done with our fingers. 
We had no machines until 1869, when my 
father bought me one. ' ' 



[427] 



XXXIII 

MRS. ALGERNON SYDNEY SULLIVAN 
AND HER WAR EXPERIENCES 
IN NEW YORK CITY ' 

'T^HE preceding story of the experiences of 
Elizabeth Waring Duckett concerned the 
work of a Southern woman within the Fed- 
eral lines, but within reach of Southern 
sympathizers. The work of Mrs. Algernon 
Sydney Sullivan was, with a brief exception, 
in the North in the midst of war-time foes. 
Mrs. Sullivan was Miss Mary Mildred Ham- 
mond, of Virginia. In 1856 she met and mar- 
ried Mr. Sullivan in Cincinnati, and two years 
later both went to live in New York City. 

When, shortly after the outbreak of the 
war, the Captain and crew of the captured 
Confederate schooner Savannah were put 

in irons and threatened with 
Trial '^^ ^ execution as * ' pirates, ' ' Mr. 

Sullivan was retained by the 
Confederate Government as counsel for the 
prisoners. Mr. Sullivan, however, was ar- 
rested under charge of disloyalty and con- 
[428] 



In the North 

fined at Fort Lafayette, and Mrs. Sullivan 
was alone with her young son in a hostile 
land. 

Within a few days, thereafter, Mrs. Sulli- 
van received a visit from General Stewart L. 
Woodford, who was evidently sent by the gov- 
ernment to ascertain her feelings and gen- 
eral attitude. Mrs. Sullivan received him with 
calm dignity and when he said he wished her 
to know that no harm was to come to her 
husband she promptly retorted: "Well, if 
you can proye him to be a traitor, why don't 
you kill him? ' ' It is safe to say that the Gen- 
eral beat a hasty retreat; for, many years 
after, a friend told Mrs. Sullivan he had met 
a great admirer of hers who had said she 
had once "nearly scared him to death," and 
he related the incident of this visit. Certain 
it is that the courage of this young woman, 
alone in her sorrow with the responsibility 
of a young child, made a deep impression on 
General Woodford. He became, in later 
years, a staunch friend and supporter of Mrs. 
Sullivan in many of her labors for the welfare 
of those who needed help both in New York 
and in the South. 

[429] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

At the end of two months, Mr. Sullivan was 
released and vindicated. He returned to his 
home much broken in health but happy in the 
reunion with his family. On the day follow- 
ing his liberation, the case of the officers of 
the Savannah was called and though 
warned that his appearance might mean his 
death, Mr. Sullivan was there to defend his 
clients, the "rebel pirates," and did so to- 
gether with Mr. Daniel Lord, Mr. Joseph 
. Laroque, and others. This fearless display 
of loyalty to his duty won the respect and ad- 
miration of his associates and did much to 
establish the cordial relations which endured 
throughout his life.* 

The unfortunate suspicion of Mr. Sulli- 
van's loyalty to the Government did, however, 
greatly increase the difficulties to be faced 
by his wife. Though his imprisonment was 
classed by many as an outrage, and his exon- 
eration was rapid and complete, she was 



*In spite of this defense of the prisoners, the crew of the 
Savannah were convicted of "piracy" and sentenced to 
death by hanging. Tlie threat of direct and immediate 
retaliation by the Confederate Government, however, 
aroused the Federal authorities to revoke the sentence, and 
the prisoners were eventually released. 

[ 430 ] 



In the North 

known to liave the closest ties with the South 
and she often found herself in positions re- 
quiring the greatest tact and 
Caring for self-control. No one realized 

Prisoners ^^^^^ more than Mrs. Sullivan 

herself. Her great desire to 
give assistance to her stricken people and 
the Confederate prisoners, which she Avas de- 
termined to do only with the assent of the 
Federal government, entailed both hardship 
and self-denial and required an unlimited 
amount of patience and perseverance. 

Together with several other ladies she was 
allowed to give her services in establishing a 
soup kitchen at the Government Hospital at 
David's Island (in Long Island Sound) where 
the Confederate prisoners were confined. 
This work was continued until the permits of 
the Southern ladies were confiscated. 

Towards the middle of the war this soup 
kitchen, in which she was so much interested, 
was closed entirely by General Canby. 

Deprived of the privilege of visiting at 

David's Island, Mrs. Sullivan did Avhat she 

could by corresponding with the Southern 

soldiers confined in the Northern prisons, 

[431] 



The Women of the South i)i War Times 

sending them from time to time small 
Slims of money, which were nrgently 
needed. 

Adhering strictly to her policy of an open 
manner and giving assistance only with the 
cognizance of the Government, Mrs. Snllivan 
tactfully avoided the very possible serious 
consequences of ministering surreptitiously 
to the "enemy." In spite of this, she felt she 
was more or less under surveillance, and, 
on one occasion, she refused to be "hood- 
winked" into helping a man who appeared at 
her home in a Confederate uniform, repre- 
senting himself to be a Texan, destitute and 
trying to return to his regiment through the 
Union lines. Mrs. Sullivan listened to his 
story but said she could only help him 
through the authorities, to whom she would 
at once refer his case and with whom she 
Avould exert her influence in his behalf. 

Without definitely knowing, it was a rea- 
sonable supposition that this man was a 
Secret Service agent. Nothin-g more was ever 
heard of him. 

An intimate friend of Mrs. Sullivan spoke 
of her as a "glorious fighter." At no time 
[452] 



In the North 

in her life was this quality so clearly demon- 
strated as during the several attempts which 
she made to see John Yates 
Visits John g^.-^2j ^l^g Confederate soldier, 

Yates Beall . '. . . , 

m his nnprisonment, when 
her efforts were finally successful and she had 
the satisfaction of knowing that she had 
brought him comfort in his last hours. 

Captain John Beall was a native of 
Charlestown, Va., (now West Virginia). His 
family had always been intimate with the 
Hammonds and their relatives, but when Mrs. 
Sullivan saw in the New York papers ac- 
counts of the capture of the "notorious 
pirate, John Beall, ' ' she did not connect them 
with the boy who had been her sister's school- 
mate, and it was not until some time later, 
after he had been imprisoned for privateer- 
ing on the Great Lakes, tried and condemned 
to be hanged, that Mrs. Sullivan heard 
through her relatives in Virginia that he was 
the boy she had known in childhood. With 
this intelligence came the news that his 
mother had been unable to obtain a permit 
to see him and was distracted with grief to 
think that her son had not the consolation of 
[433] 



Tlie Women of the South in War Times 

either family or friend to be with him dur- 
ing his remaining days of life. 

Mrs. Sullivan realized the enormous dif- 
ficulties that lay in her way, but this cour- 
ageous woman put by her own concerns and 
set herself to find a way to visit Captain Beall. 

She went to the office of General Dix, the 
Commanding Officer, and waited for hours 
for an interview. She was finally admitted, 
but her reception was none too courteous, and 
a pass to the prison was refused untU. she 
could show that John Beall wished to see her. 
There was nothing for her to do but to go 
home and write to him. His reply left no 
room for doubt as to his desire to see her, 
but it was only after several visits to the 
General's office with this letter, that she was 
handed a pass to Fort Lafayette, whither she 
proceeded at once. 

The journey was tedious and tiring, con- 
suming the better part of a day. Upon her 
arrival she was told that the prisoner had, 
that morning, been transferred to Governor's 
Island — a fact which must have been known 
at Headquarters when her pass was issued. 

StlQ undaunted, Mrs. SulHvan returned to 
[434] 



In the North 

General Dix and after some delay received 
permission to go to the prison on Governor's 
Island, and there, on the following day, she 
saw Captain Beall. 

He was in a close and ill-ventilated cell and 
the interview was conducted in the presence 
of guards. 

Her visit seemed to bring the greatest com- 
fort to the condemned man, who confided to 
her in low tones, certain personal messages 
for his family and the young lady in Tennes- 
see to whom he was betrothed. Remarking 
upon his unusual pallor, Mrs. Sullivan in- 
quired if he was ill. He replied that he had 
a severe toothache, and though he had asked 
for some laudanum to allay the pain, the 
authorities had refused to give it to him be- 
cause they feared he would commit suicide. 
The absurdity of this thought so impressed 
Captain Beall, who was deeply religious, that 
he asked Mrs. Sullivan particularly to con- 
vey to his mother his abhorrence of any such 
course, assuring her of his Christian faith 
and that, had he wished to use it, he had, in 
the heel of his shoe a watch spring saw, quite 
sufficient as an instrument of death. This 
[ 435 ] 



The Wome7i of the South in War, Times 

saw was found after his execution and is to- 
day preserved in a museum. 

In 1863, during that short but bloody dis- 
turbance known as the ''Draft Riots," Mr. 
and Mrs. Sullivan lived with their baby boy 
in 45tli Street, and their per- 
The Draft gonal experience with the 

Riots of 1863 , ^ 

drink-crazed mobs was ter- 
rifying. The roar of the crowds as they 
gathered to roam through the city to pillage 
and burn, in many cases to kill, was alarm- 
ing enough in itself, but their resentment was 
not confined to loud and disorderly demon- 
strations. In their fury they often attacked 
peaceful citizens who were in no way con- 
nected with the Conscription Law, and their 
rage was vented upon persons and property 
alike. 

Upon one occasion, Mrs. Sullivan relates, 
the rioters marched up Fifth Avenue and 
when they reached 47th Street determined to 
burn the residence of Dr. Thomas Ward, 
which stood on that corner. There was no 
reason for their choice of that particular 
property and Dr. Ward had no intimation 
of their intention. Their arrival before his 
[436] 



In the North 

door found him alone in the house with his 
niece. She had the presence of mind to es- 
cape by a rear entrance and run for assist- 
ance to the home of their neighbor and friend, 
Mr. Sullivan. By good fortune he was at 
home and hastened with two or three others 
(among them Dan Bryant of negro minstrel 
fame) to Dr. Ward's assistance. One glance 
at the furious crowd sufficed to convince Mr. 
Sullivan that no physical effort could con- 
trol the situation, so he mounted the top step 
of the house and addressed them so elo- 
quently, regardless of his personal danger, 
that the throng eventually dispersed peace- 
ably. Dr. Ward always felt that he owed his 
life to Mr. Sullivan, and Mrs. Sullivan says 
that she never was so proud of her husband's 
ability and daring. It was certainly a situa- 
tion demanding the utmost courage, and only 
true eloquence could have attracted that un- 
couth mob and have turned them from their 
purpose. 

In November, 1863, the Valley of the Shen- 
andoah in Virginia was occupied a second 
time by Northern troops. Sheridan was in 
command with Headquarters at Winchester. 
[4371 



\ 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Anxiety for her immediate family determined 
Mrs. Sullivan to attempt their removal to 
New York. 

Mr. Sullivan took what his wife describes 
as *'a rather shallow four-story house," at 
165 West 34th Street, and as soon as it was 

ready, Miss Harriot Hammond, 
Shelters ^j^]^ great difficulty and severe 

Relatives hardships, piloted the little 

band out of war-ridden Vir- 
ginia through the Union lines to Baltimore, 
whence they finally came to New York and 
the protecting care of Mr. Sullivan and his 
wife. 

Although Mrs. Sullivan had with her in 
New York her immediate family, there were 
many of her near relatives in Virginia, and 

during the last year of the War 

viL^ViSnia «^^ f^lt it urgently necessary 
to make an attempt to reach 
them. It was exceedingly unwise to under- 
take such a journey, for the fighting was in 
progress the whole length of the Valley and 
the country was in no condition to permit of 
safe travel. 

In no way did Mrs. Sullivan underestimate 
[438] 



In the North 

the dangers of such a trip, but in her mind 
they weighed lightly as against the needs of 
her relatives, so this dauntless woman took 
a faithful maid and her three-year-old son, 
and with two large trunks full of clothing and 
other necessities she started out, her courage 
high and her heart full of hope. The party 
arrived at Shepherdstown without any 
trouble, but there the difficulties began. 
Sheltered by a friend, they unpacked the 
trunks, placing their contents into rough 
sacks. As their only chance of reaching their 
destination lay in their journeying as local 
travelers, they dressed the part ; a wagon was 
obtained, the sacks piled in, and off they went 
in the uncomfortable vehicle, proceeding by 
unfrequented roads and passing each Union 
sentry with beating hearts. Sometimes Mrs. 
Sullivan drove the cart and sometimes a 
negro, for hire, was persuaded to take the 
lines. Progress was slow and hazardous, 
necessitating many stops. 

At last they arrived at "Burnley," the 

home of Mrs. Sullivan's Aunt, Mrs. Burnett. 

They tarried here for some few days and 

then went on to place after place, always 

[439] 



The Women of the Soiitli ui War Times 

stopping long enough to bring cheer and com- 
fort and leaving such necessities as were 
badly needed. 

Life in the Valley had taken on a different 
hue in these dreadful days of War. Want 
and desolation replaced the green fields and 
productive farms. No family was without 
its mourning. No able-bodied man was left 
to carry the burdens of planting and harvest, 
and women in those lean days were poor sub- 
stitutes, though they "turned to" with all 
the might of their reduced strength. They 
lived in hourly dread of the coming of 
Custer's men, who drove off what livestock 
remained on the places and burned what 
stores they could not transport. 

" Springsberry, " on the Shenandoah, the 
home of ' ' Grandma Taylor, ' ' was not spared 
from the exigencies of War. It was the last 
stopping place of Mrs. Sullivan and while 
she was there one of these raids took place. 
The family were seated at breakfast one 
morning when they heard cries from the 
negro maid on the floor above. Rising pre- 
cipitately, they were considerably startled to 
see a Union sentry posted at each and every 
[4401 



In the North 

window. Looking beyond, the remainder of 
the detachment were seen rounding- up the 
few remaining cows. It was a sad blow. 

Not long before the family had started the 
meal, Marshall McCormick, the eleven-year- 
old son of a neighbor, had come in upon an 
errand. He had ridden his 
Whearcrop brother's horse and tethered 
the animal in a clump of 
bushes a few paces from the house where it 
was hidden from the raiders. At the first 
sound of alarm this manly boy dashed from 
the house by a side door, sprang upon his 
steed's back and galloped at full speed to a 
dividing wall, leaping it without hesitation 
and disappeared from view. The shots of the 
sentries at the flying lad frightened the 
marauders. Someone set up a cry of 
"Mosby" and the Union officer gathered his 
men and made off at full speed, happily leav- 
ing the live stock, but pausing long enough 
to set fire to the wheat stacks. 

There were no men in the house other than 
a very old darkey. But the winter's supply of 
food had to be saved, and it was Mrs. Sulli- 
van, cool and clear-headed and for the first 
[4411 



The Women of the South in War Times 

time in her life handling a pitch-fork, who 
ran to the rescue. She mounted to the top 
of the burning stack and tossed the wheat 
away from the flames, at the same time direct- 
ing the work of the rest of the household. Not 
much of the precious grain was lost and the 
family was actually saved from starvation 
during the long, hard winter that followed. 

This bit of heroism has always furnished a 
theme for family pride, for the service Mrs. 
Sullivan gave was of great value. One of her 
relatives has stated that for many years a 
charred pitch-fork was carefully kept as be- 
ing *Hhe one Molly used when she saved our 
wheat. ' ' 

The War was over. Mrs. Sullivan returned 

to New York filled with sadness, for she had 

seen the suffering and known the horrors of 

desolation that lay upon the 

A^ *^^lf°W ^^^^ ^^ ^®^ birth. At once she 
zealously laid plans for the 
alleviation of these destitute and war-worn 
people. Money was imperatively needed for 
food and clothing, so she set about raising 
a fund for the women and children of the 
[442] 



In the North 

South. Mrs. James Lees, wife of a prominent 
New York banker, Mrs. Roosevelt, wife of 
Judge Roosevelt, Mrs. W. H. Price, Mrs. 
Henry Anthon, Mrs. S. L. M. Barlow, and 
, Mrs. Cyrus H. McGormick joined with Mrs. 
Sullivan in forming the ''New York Ladies' 
Southern Relief Society," Mrs. Roosevelt 
being President and Mrs. Sullivan acting as 
Secretary and General Manager. 

The fatigue of the struggle and the memo- 
ries of the anxieties endured and of the losses 
sustained were still present with the Northern 
people and a feeling of bitterness still pre- 
vailed even among many of the people of cos- 
mopolitan New York. Therefore, it required 
great moral courage, especially for a South- 
ern woman, to make personal appeals to them 
to save from want and death their recent bat- 
tle-foQS — her own people. 

Nevertheless she did not hesitate, although, 
having quick sympathy with the feelings of 
others, she naturally understood the nature 
of the rebuffs to be expected and endured for 
the cause she represented. 

Mrs. Wm. H. Price and the other Southern 
women on the committee were also women not 
[443 1 



The Women of the South in War Times 

to be deterred from a work of love and high 
duty by any consideration of personal em- 
barrassment. The other ladies were of 
Northern ancestry, but they bravely faced 
criticism on the part of their social and fam- 
ily connections. Together, they raised the 
money by giving entertainments oud by mak- 
ing personal appeals among the business men 
in the city. 

There were many discouragements, but to 
use Mrs. Sullivan's words, ''There was 
always a successful appeal to offset the dis- 
appointments, ' ' and she mentions a particular 
time when, going from shops to offices along 
Canal Street, soliciting aid from the various 
business people, she received from one man 
a refusal in these words: ''Not one cent! 
They are rebels and they ought to starve." 
Later that day Mrs. Ben Holliday, wife of 
the famous stage coach man, gave her one 
thousand dollars, which was the most munifi- 
cent gift yet received. And so, though much 
of the time it was " swimming against the cur- 
rent," Mrs. Sullivan had her successes as 
well as her failures. 

It was not often that she was treated dis- 
[ 444 ] 



In the North 

courteoiislyj and New York proved itself gen- 
erous to its conquered enemy. Mrs. Edwin 
Stoughton gave many entertainments in her 
home on Fifth Avenue and 17th Street for 
the benefit of this Society, and theatrical per- 
formances held at the old Jockey Club, Madi- 
son Avenue and 26th Street, helped to swell 
the funds. Many prominent people soon in- 
terested themselves in adding to the col- 
lections and Mr. Arthur Leary, brother 
of Countess Annie Leary, holding office 
as Treasurer, distributed through the 
clergy of the South over twenty thousand 
dollars. 

The work of Mrs. Sullivan, however, did 
not find its boundaries in the mere raising of 
the money or in its formal distribution. Her 
labors, following her abounding sympathy, 
expanded into the realm of sorrows and 
despairs of the Southern people, so that her 
correspondence developed into a stream of 
consolation, encouragement, and guidance as 
well as of material aid. 

So voluminous was this correspondence, 
all of which she attended to with her own 
pen (typewriting machines being then in 
[445] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

little use), that her unusually clear vision 
suffered a permanent impairment. 

At this time Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan began 
to find in New York the beginning of that 
stream of young Southern men who immedi- 
ately after the ending of the War — driven by 
the revolutionary change in Southern life and 
business — began to come to the North in 
order to earn there the support for them- 
selves and their families — a stream ever 
since continued. 

They realized that these young Southern- 
ers were in New York as total strangers and 
were far from their home influence. They 
at once began to invite them to their home, 
socially and informally, and the Sunday even- 
ing suppers became a recognized institution, 
where they came and were welcomed with- 
out awaiting an invitation. 

Mrs. Sullivan devoted her life to the char- 
itable and public-spirited work demanded by 
the condition of life in her adopted home — 
New York City. 

Forty years she was, first, the Acting 
Directress, and later on the actual First 
Directress of the Nursery and Child's Hos- 
[446] 



In the North 

pital, of which for many years the average 
number of daily inmates was 756. At pres- 
ent writing, in 1920, she is, at 83, the First 
Vice-President of the newer Institution of 
which this forms a part. 

In 1905, when Mrs. Sullivan was 70 years 
old, she responded to the call of the neglected 
white people living in the Southern Moun- 
tains for education — a call made by the de- 
voted and eloquent Mrs. Martha S. Gielow, 
and she organized in New York City the New 
York Branch of the Southern Industrial Edu- 
cational Association. 

The Southern men and women residing in 
New York City love to recognize in Mrs. Sulli- 
van the leading example of what they feel a 
Southern woman — and an American woman 
— should be, and when certain of them wished 
to organize a Second Chapter of the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy, in New York 
City, they naturally gave it her name and it 
was this Chapter which, on the same day that 
war was declared against Germany, sent its 
immediate offer of service; and at the same 
time Mrs. Sullivan instituted steps to organ- 
ize the Southern Women of New York into 
[447] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

a body for War Relief work, which resulted 
in the forming of the New York Southern 
Women's Patriotic Society, which had a Red 
Cross Committee bearing the very early num- 
ber of 99. 



[448] 



XXXIV 

RELIEF WORK IN THE WORLD WAR 

TT is fitting to close this volume on ''The 
Women of the South in War Times ' ' with 
at least a few notes on the work continued, it 
may be said, by these women of '61, and by 
their descendants, during the World War, in 
which the sons of Confederate veterans 
fought for human liberty and high ideals with 
the spirit of their fathers. 

The Confederate wounded of the War Be- 
tween the States had been tenderly nursed in 
the homes or the improvised hospitals of the 
South. The sons of these men of the sixties 
fought and fell thousands of miles away in a 
foreign land. The foregoing pages tell the 
story of the difficulty or even impossibility at 
times of providing the simplest necessities or 
the essential medical supplies for the sick and 
wounded in the American conflict. On the 
other hand, in 1917- '18, a bountiful Govern- 
ment was able to provide all our soldiers in 
France with supplies and attention never 
[449] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

dreamed of by those who fought under the 
standard of the Southern Confederacy. 

While the example of Confederate fathers 
inspired the young men of the South in 1917, 
the women prepared to help the common 
cause and those supporting it on the fields of 
France. The society of the United Daughters 
of the Confederacy particularly set them- 
selves for concerted action through some 
definite policy. The historian learns from 
their reports that at their first general con- 
vention held at Chattanooga subsequently to 
the entry of the United States into the World 
War, several hundred delegates discussed not 
whether they would act but how best to act 
to do the most good. 

In a limited space, the story of achievement 
that followed has to be severely compressed, 
and only the general results given, through 
the appointed heads of committees, of the ef- 
forts of some 60,000 loyal American women, 
nearly all of whom were not only of Confed- 
erate blood but of Revolutionary and Colonial 
stock as well. They had always contended for 
self-government and the fundamental prin- 
ciples of freedom and liberty. They "would 
[450] 



In the World War 

not fail such a cause at this or any future 
time. ' ' 
' At Chattanooga, Miss Mary B. Poppen- 
heim, the newly-elected President-General, 
asked for and secured the authority to ap- 
point a Committee for War Relief Work. 
Miss Poppenheim was from Charleston, 
South Carolina, the first of the States in 
1860- '61 to ''resume its sovereignty"; and it 
was Mrs. J. A. Rountree, of Alabama, the 
home of the first Confederate Congress, who 
proposed that: "War relief be adopted as 
general U. D. C. work; that a War Relief 
Committee be appointed to supervise and 
direct the same, co-operating with the Red 
Cross." The motion was seconded by Mrs. 
L. M. Bashinsky, also of Alabama, and was 
unanimously carried. 

Miss Nellie C. Preston, President of the 
Virginia Division, called attention to the work 
of the American hospital in France, men- 
tioning Neuilly above the others. Needless 
to add, therefore, that this hospital was 
fortunate in attracting the early attention of 
the Daughters. Immediately, Miss Poppen- 
heim secured the passage of a resolution 
[ 451 ] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

which was also unanimously carried : ' ' That 
the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 
convention assembled authorize the establish- 
ment of a bed in the American Hospital at 
Neuilly, a suburb of Paris ; that an appropria- 
tion of $600.00 be made from the General 
U. D. C. Treasury to pay for the bed ; that the 
War Relief Committee of the U. D. C. estab- 
lished at this convention be empowered to 
carry out the details of this plan; and that 
this same committee be requested to encour- 
age State Divisions to undertake similar hos- 
pital beds." 

Owing to the poverty of the South for many 
years after the devastation of a war of in- 
vasion, it may be stated that the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy has never been 
an organization of women of wealth. It is 
quite democratic — more so, perhaps, than any 
other large organization of women. Like the 
Society of Confederate Veterans, and also 
that of the Sons, it aims to be simple and de- 
sires its membership to be made up of all on 
equal status with as little regard to ''social 
standing" as possible. The per capita dues 
of membership for the general organization 
[452] 



In the World War 

are but ten cents a year — so that a donation 
of $600.00 out of its national treasury is 
equivalent to many times that amount from 
other societies. This donation of six hun- 
dred dollars inspired the convention, and 
whatever may be the ''alien" criticisms so 
freely leveled at * ' State pride, ' ' which is, per- 
haps, most generally felt in the South, this 
kind of pride has an especial advantage when 
these States vie, as they often do, with each 
other in promoting good works. 

Mrs. W. C. N. Merchant, of Virginia, de- 
sired that this first bed be named after the 
first and only President of the Confederate 
States, and her motion was carried without 
opposition. The ''Jefferson Davis" bed be- 
came the "standard bearer" for the endow- 
ment and naming of seventy additional beds 
provided by 36 States, for the people of a 
number of the Northern and Western States 
have the honor of entertainijig within their 
borders healthy Chapters of the United 
Daughters of the Confederacy. 

Among the names of Southern leaders who 
had beds endowed in their names in France 
were: Davis, Lee, Cleburne, Jackson, 
[453] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

Gordon, the Johnstons, Richard Jackson, 
** Stonewall" Jackson, Gordon, Beanregard, 
Mitchell, Vance, Heath, Semmes, Wheeler, 
Forrest, Hood, Price, Stephens, Brecken- 
ridge, Zollicoffer, Maury, Cabell, King, 
McWhirter, and Ryan. 

The sum total for these beds amounted to 
over $41,600, which was "to be renewed an- 
nually as long as needed." 

Many expressions of appreciation and com- 
mendation for the work of the Daughters 
were received throughout the year from the 
Executive Board of the Hospital and when, 
January 20, 1919, Mrs. Robert Bacon, Chair- 
man, New York, wrote to the President Gen- 
eral and the Chairman of War Relief, notify- 
ing them of the closing of the hospital at 
Neuilly, she closed by saying: 

"The United Daughters of the Confed- 
eracy have, more than any other organiza- 
tion, made it possible for the Hospital to 
carry on its magnificent work, and I feel that 
any thanks, or show of appreciation, that I, 
as Chairman of the American Committee, 
could send you, would be a very inadequate 
expression of the gratitude that has been felt 
[454] 



In the World War 

abroad for your remarkable service. The 
famous names that have marked your beds, 
and the wonderful sympathy the Southern 
States have shown m the many heroic men 
whom they have cared for, will always re- 
main indelibly impressed on the memories of 
every one who has watched over the Hos- 
pital with such tender care through these four 
and a half long and painful years. Your in- 
defatigable efforts in the behalf of the Amer- 
ican Military Hospital No. 1, Neuilly, have 
called forth the greatest admiration from 
every one, but I hope you feel, with us, a just 
pride in having the Daughters of the Con- 
federacy connected with an organization that 
has made such a marvelous name for itself 
during the war, and has shown throughout 
these years of suffering such a noble spirit 
of self-sacrifice and of deep devotion. ' ' 

On April 22, 1918, Mr. Eichard E. Power, 
Executive Secretary of the Hospital in 
France, wrote the President-General : 

* ' I should like to say to you a word of per- 
sonal admiration, not alone for the splendid 
interest which your organization has shown 
in the work for this hospital, but also for the 
[455] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

wonderfully efficient manner in which your 
organization functions. You certainly have 
the spirit of co-operation and team work 
exemplified in a marvelous degree, and I am 
sure that the U. D. C. could readily accom- 
plish tasks which less efficiently organized as- 
sociations could not even undertake." 

Probably no organization of women in the 
history of the world has done so much to 
memorialize a heroic past. Certainly none 
has given of means and services as the 
Daughters of the Confederacy. Nevertheless, 
by action of the 1917 Convention, aU build- 
ing of memorials was suspended during the 
period of the "World War and many State 
Divisions invested all memorial funds on 
hand in Liberty Bonds. 

Chapters in those towns near which can- 
tonments were located did a great deal of re- 
lief work for the soldiers in their neighbor- 
hood and provided social enterta in ment for 
them. In some towns the Daughters kept 
"open house" every Saturday afternoon 
throughout the entire time of the war. The 
Chapters also assumed charge of marking the 
graves of those soldiers who, dying without 
[ -^56 ] 



In the World War 

home or near relatives, were buried in Gov- 
ernment burial grounds established at each 
Camp. In such cases the local members at- 
tended the funeral and provided flowers. 

Summing up in part only the salient fea- 
tures of the war work of the United Daugh- 
ters of the Confederacy, it is recorded that, 
during the World War, the Daughters organ- 
ized no less than 229 Red Cross Chapters; 
contributed, in round numbers, as Chapters 
and Divisions, $448,000 to the American Red 
Cross; they gave, also, to other war relief 
agencies, $393,000 ; and they bought, ofiScially, 
as members of the United Daughters of the 
Confederacy, $24,850,000 worth of Liberty 
Bonds and War Savings Stamps. 

These figures do not include individual sub- 
scriptions given through numerous other 
channels, but those that are officially re- 
corded as part of the work of the organiza- 
tion. In addition, the United Daughters of 
the Confederacy are put on record as having 
made over five million hospital garments; 
fourteen million surgical dressings, and six 
hundred thousand knitted articles. They also 
officially adopted and cared for twenty-two 
[457] 



The Women of the South in War Times 

hundred Belgian and French orphans at a 
cost of $82,000. 

Over and above this work there was begun 
a special fund for educational work. This 
was established at Chattanooga through the 
efforts of Miss Poppenheim; and, at Louis- 
ville, it was called ''Our Hero Fund," to 
"honor the men of the South who served 
their reunited country wherever needed in 
1917-1918," and offered to those who were in 
active service during the period of the war. 



[458] 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, 10 fn.; atti- 
tude towards Lincoln, 11 
fn.; as disunionists, 11 
fn. ; teachings of, 46 fn. ; 
views of: by Robert E. 
Lee, 353-354 ; by Julia Le- 
Grand, 356, 363 ; by Abra- 
ham Lincoln, 335, 353. 

Adams, Charles Francis, on 
War of Secession, 14. 

Alexandria, capture of, 81. 

Amendment XIII, original 
form of, 16, 32. 

Andersonville prison, 402- 
403 ; defense of, by Union 
officer, 218-220. 

Andrews, Dr. Charles W., 
103. 

Arkansas, Mrs. Trader's 
trip to, 136 et seq. 

"Arlington," 71. 

Armistead, Gen. Louis A., 
224 fn. 

Augusta, 291. 

B 

Bacon, Mrs. Robert, letter 
to U. D. C, 454. 

Bagby, George W., quota- 
tion from, 10 fn. 

Baltimore, attitude of, 58 
et seq. 

Bashinsky, Mrs. L. M., 451. 

Baton Rouge, bombardment 
of, 348. 



Beall, Captain John Yates, 
execution of, 433. 

'"Bedford," burning of, 200 
et seq. 

Bedinger, Rev. E. B., 208. 

Bentonsville, battle of, 233. 

"Bivouac of the Dead," 120. 

Blaine, James G., on the 
South, 63. 

Blair, Montgomery, 56. 

Blountville, battle of, 107. 

Boteler, burning of home, 
197. 

Bowie, Walter, escape of, 36. 

Bowling Green, hospitals at, 
133. 

Brooks, Bishop Phillips, 79 
fn. 

Brown, John, biography of, 
by H.P.Wilson, 210; ref- 
erence to raid of, 209. 

Butler, General B. F., 346; 
in Baltimore, 69. 



Campbell, Major J. W., 306 
fn. 

Candles, substitutes for, 23. 

Carter, Mrs. Richard H., 
205. 

Cary, the Misses, 66. 

Causes of War of Secession, 
3 et seq., Foreword. 

Chandler, Senator, 32. 

Chantilly, first clash of the 
war at, 84. 

Charleston, proposed de- 
struction of, 222. 



[459 



Index 



Charles Town, 196. 

Christmas at Richmond 
(1864), 393. 

Clarke, Colonel, U. S. A., 
chivalry of, 359. 

Clothing," lack of, 26. 

Cobb, General Howell, 292. 

Coercion, as cause of seces- 
sion of the Upper South, 
17. 

Coffee, substitutes for, 21. 

Columbia, burning of, 267 
et seq.; visit to, 270. 

Corinth, hospital at, 135. 

Corn bread, use of, for 
Northern prisoners, 62. 

Corn meal, use of in the 
South, 62, 402. 

Cox, General, in North Caro- 
lina, 235. 



by Abraham Lincoln, 4, 
8; by Governor Dunmore, 
5, 8; reference to, 50 fn. 
Episcopal High School, 71. 



Farragut, Admiral, 5, 19. 

Fayetteville, 226. 

Fifteenth Corps, 223, 225. 

Flags, under two, 29. 

Forrest, General Nathan 
Bedford, story of, 270 et 
seq. 

Fort Sumter, 33, 93 fn. ; fir- 
ing upon, 59. 

"Fountain Rock," burning 
of, 197. 

Fredericksburg, shelling of, 
184. 

"Fund, Our Hero," 458. 



Davis, Colonel Jefferson, 

292. 
Dawes, William, ride of, 

148. 
Delaware, Fort, 47. 
Devotion, a wife's, 389; a 

woman's, 145. 
Dixie, the spirit of, 304. 
Duckett, Elizabeth Waring, 

narrative of, 31 et seq. 
Dulaney, Evalina, 105. 
Dyes, 26. 

E 

Early, General, reprisals by, 

383. 
"Elite," the, in the ranks, 

91. 
Emancipation Proclamation, 

the, as a war measure, 353 ; 



Galveston, recapture of, by 
Confederates, 425. 

Gay, Mary A. H., narrative 
of, 303 et seq. 

Gettysburg, advance on, 
187; incident of, 224 fn. 

Gildersleeve, Basil L., 104. 

"Glen Welby," saved from 
burning, 205 et seq. 

Goodridge, Kate P., 226; 
Phoebe, 228. 

Gordon, General John B., 
on "hallowed memories," 
2. 

Grant, General U. S., at Ap- 
pomattox, 225 fn. ; letter 
from Sherman, 330; letter 
to Butler on exchange of 
prisoners, 402. 



[460] 



Index 



Greeley, Horace, on seces- 
sion, 20. 

Green, B. W., on equipment 
of the Southern soldier, 
404. 

Greensboro, 231. 

H 

Hadley, Mrs. Piety Lucretia, 
experiences of, 416 et seq. 

Halleck, General, writes to 
Sherman, 222. 

Hamtramk, Eliza, 187 fn. 

Hancock, General, 224. 

Herald, New York, refer- 
ence to war times in, 179. 

Higginson, Thomas Went- 
worth, 11 fn. 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, on 
the South, 289 fn. 

Holt, Judge Advocate, 41. 

Homespun dress, 28. 

Honesty, public, 25. 

Hope, James Barron, quota- 
tion from, 18. 

Hopkins, Bishop, quotations 
from, 10 fn. 

Hospital, at Chester, 45. 

Hospital life, incidents of, 
98, 136. 

Houston, 416. 

Hunter, General David, 196, 
197; letter to, from Mrs. 
Lee, 201 et seq. 

Hyde, John Bachman, 111 
fn. 

J 

Jackson, Stonewall, death 
of, 180. 

Jefferson, Thomas, predic- 
tion of, as to political 
aspects and slavery, 7. 



Johnson, Reverdy, 41. 
Jonesboro, battle of, 284. 
Jouett, ride of, 148. 

K 

King, Josie, 144. 
King, Thomas M., 62. 
Kirby, Mrs. William, story 
of, 115 et seq. 



Ladies' Gunboat Associa- 
tion, 296. 

Lamon, Colonel Ward H., 
60. 

"Land, The, Where We Were 
Dreaming," 70. 

"Land Without Ruins," etc., 
302. 

"Lead, blood, tears," 325. 

Lee, Harry B., 187 fn. 

Lee, Henrietta Bedinger, 
letter of, to Hunter, 201- 
204. 

Lee, Mrs. Robert E., 88. 

Lee, Robert E., after sur- 
render, 411; on emanci- 
pation, 353-354; on "sa- 
cred principles," 2; order 
of invasion, 384; tribute 
to, by Worsley, 385 fn. 

Le Grand, Julia, diary of, 
356 et seq.; philosophy 
of, 357. 

Lincoln, Abraham, contrast- 
ed with ultra-Abolition- 
ists, 335, 353; on Aboli- 
tionists, 10 fn. ; on equality 
between the races, 366 ; 
purpose of, 4; sees Mrs. 
Duckett, 42, 56. 



461 



Index 



Littlefield, A. W., quota- 
tion from, 222. 

Lone Star State, repre- 
sentative women of, 413 
et seq. 

Lucas, Jud^e Daniel Bedin- 
ger, 70, 207. 

Lucas, Mrs. Daniel Bedin- 
ger, 207. 

M 

"Mammy" Kate, 334. 

Manufacturing, lack of, in 
the Old South. 20. 

Marr, Captain, death of, 86. 

Martindale, Captain Wil- 
liam F., 197, 200-201. 

Martindale, General, 41-42. 

Maryland, attitude of, 31 
et seq.; 57 et seq. 

"Maryland My Maryland," 
publication and singing 
of, 66 et seq. 

Massachusetts, attitude of, 
towards annexation of 
Texas, 415. 

McClellan, General, 224. 

McGuire, Judith Brocken- 
brough, diary of, 71-103, 
155-189, 372-412. 

McKim, Rev. Dr. Randolph 
H., on "heroic dead," 2. 

McLure, Mrs. Margaret A. 
E., story of, 336 et seq. 

McPeek, Mrs. Allie, exper- 
iences of, 284. 

Meade, Bishop, 92; house- 
hold of, 100. 

Meade, Colonel Richard 
Kidder, 93 fn.; at Sum- 
ter, 425. 

"Medical Grove," 105. 



Medicines, contraband of 
war, 49 fn., 61, 117; 
lack of in the west, 133. 

Merchant, Mrs. W. C. N., 
453. 

Milk, scarcity of, 23. 

Misapprehension, a popular, 
3. 

Moffett, Judge W. W., story 
of, 194. 

Monroe, Mrs., courage of, 
229. 

Morgan, J. Pierpont, Jr., 
returns Martha Washing- 
ton's will, 179. 

Morgan, Sarah Fowler, diary 
of, 345-352. 

Morse, John T., Jr., 64. 

Murchison, Duncan, 226. 

N 

Negoes, treatment of, 263, 

391, 379. 
New Orleans, war times in, 

353 et seq. 
Nicholson, Rebecca Lloyd, 

66. 
Night, of terror in lower 

Virginia, 387; on the field 

of battle, 145. 
North Carolina, invasion of, 

226 et seq. 
Nullification, universality 

of, 13. 



Odenheimer, Mrs. Cordelia 
Powell, story of, 191. 

O'Hara, Tlieodore, 121. 

"Oil, feathers, and molas- 
ses," 253. 



[462] 



Index 



"Orphan Brigade, Tlie." 122. 
Ould, Colonel Robert, 44, 01. 



Page, Lieutenant James 
Madison, prison exper- 
iences of, 211; sketch of, 
218 fn. 

Palmito Ranch, battle of, 
426. 

Pearsall, Mrs. Rachel, rem- 
iniscences of, 236 et scq. 

Pendleton, Rev. Dr., 94. 

Perrvville, battle of, 115. 

Philips, Mrs. Betty Taylor, 
story of, 120 et seq. 

Phillips, Wendell, views of, 
356. 

Pike, General Albert, 226 fn. 

Pollock, Roberta, ride of, 
148 et seq. 

Poi^penheim, Miss Mary B., 
451. 

Poppenheim, Mrs. C. C, 
reminiscences of, 246 et 
seq. 

Power, Richard E., letter to 
U. D. C, 455. 

Preston, Nellie C, 451. 

Prison, Old Capitol, 40. 

Prisoners of war, caring 
for, 136; misrepresented, 
137 fn., 211, 431; treat- 
ment of, 61; review of 
treatment, 400 et seq. ; 
Federal testimony on, 
218-220. 



Races, relationship between 
the, 9, 102-104, 190-195, 
209, 228. 237 et seq., 288 



fn., 331 et seq., 351, 363; 

Abraham Lincoln on, 386. 
Randall, James Rjder, iM. 
Randolph, Bishop, 79 fn. 
Randolph, Janet Weaver, 

story of, 190. 
Relief' work in the World 

War, 449 et seq. 
Revere, ride of Paul, 148. 
"Revolution, A more impor- 
tant," 87. 
Richmond, evacuation of, 

407, raids around, 376. 
"Rion Hall," story of, 208 

et seq. 
Robinson, Rosa, 187 fn. 
Rogers, Mrs. Loula Kendall, 

reminiscences of, 286 et 

seq. 
Rountree, Mrs. J. A., 451. 
Russell, Tillie, on field of 

battle, 145 et seq. 



Sabine Pass, battle of, 426. 
Salt, contraband of war, 

28; substitutes for, 21. 
Sanborn, F. B., 11 fn. 
Sanson, Emma, ride of, 270 

et seq. 
Savannah, bombardment of, 

298. 
Schenck, General, 47. 
Schoeph, 48. 
Scott, General Winfield, 29; 

reference to, by Mrs. Mc- 

Guire, 96. 
Scott, Mrs. Taylor, 205. 
Secession, general accept- 
ance of, 13; prayer for 

peaceful, 80. 
Servants, titles of,. 78, 194. 



463 



Index 



Shenandoah Valley, invasion 
of the, 196. 

Shepherd, Mrs. Davis, burn- 
ing of home, 197. 

Shepherdstown, 187 fn. 

Sherman, General, interview 
with, 273-275; letter to 
General Grant, 330; let- 
ter to Halleck, 223; 
letter to General Kirkpat- 
riek, 329; letter to Gen- 
eral Webster, 330; wreck 
and ruin under, 250 et 
seq., 318. 

Shoes, lack of, 27. 

Sigel, General Franz, enter- 
tained bv Mrs. Thornton, 
182. 

Slavery, conditions connect- 
ed with, 9, 102-104, 190- 
195, 209, 237 et seq., 288 
fn., 331 et seq., 363. 

Smith, Colonel Orren, 293. 

Smith, Mrs. J. Henry, nar- 
rative of, 230 et seq. 

Soap, manufacture of, 24. 

Soda, substitutes for, 22. 

Sorghum and black bread, 
255. 

South Carolina, A'engeance 
declared against, 222-223. 

St. Louis, prison for South- 
ern woman at, 336 et seq. 

Stanton, Secretary, 62-64 ; 
character of, 65 ; in con- 
nection with the treat- 
ment of prisoners, 403; 
message of, 56 ; sees Mrs. 
Duckett, 43 ; sketch of. 



Star of the West, capture 
of the, 425. 



•'Stars and Bars," the, first 

design for, 293. 
Starvation in Confederate 

armies, 398, 404. 
Steinmetz, Dr. Charles P., 

8 fn. 
Stone, Mrs. Cornelia Branch 

recollections of, 421 et 

seq. 
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 290. 
Streight, Colonel Abel D., 

expedition of, 278 et seq. 
Stuart, Dr. Richard H., 60. 
Stuart, General J. E. B., 

anecdote of, 378 ; death 

of, 376. 
Sugar, substitutes for, 22. 
Sullivan, Mrs. Algernon 

Sydney, experiences of, 

428 et seq. 
Sullivan, Mrs. Betsy, story 

of, 112 et seq. 
Sumter, Fort, 33 fn., 93; 

firing upon, 59. 
Surratt, Mrs. Mary E., 60. 



Tariff, protective, as cause 

of sectional friction, 6, 16. 
Taxation of the South, 92 

fn. 
Tea, siibstitutes for, 21. 
Texas, Republic of, 415. 
Theological Seminary, 72. 
Theology, Black and White, 

.190. 
Thomas, General George H., 

6, 29. 
Tompkins, Captain Sally, 

C. S. A., story of, 127 et 

seq. 



464] 



Index 



Thornton, Mrs., entertains 

General Sigel, 1.82. 
Tillinj^liast, Miss, anecdote 

of, 229 fn. 
Tinirod, Henry, "Carolina," 

221 ; "Ethnogenesis," 246. 
Trader, Mrs. Ella K., stoiy 

of, 131 et seq. 

W 

Wallis, S. Teackle, 55. 

Waring, William W., 36. 

War of Secession, causes of 
tlie, 3 et seq. Foreword. 

Watterson, Henry, 29. 

Webster, changes in diction- 
ary, 14 fn. 

Welles, Secretary, 64. 

Wesleyan Female College, 
2S6. 

Wheat, lack of, 30. 

Williams, John Sharp, 30. 

Winchester, 187 fn. 



VVirz, Captain Henry, de- 
fense of, by Union officer, 
218-220; recipient of tes- 
timonials by prisoners, 
220. 

"Women of the South, The," 
poem, 131. 

W^omen, work of the, 75 et 
seq., 88, 231 et seq., 373- 
374, 417 et seq.; in the 
World War, 449 et seq. 

World, New York, 30. 

World War, work of South- 
ern women in the, 449 
et seq. 

Worsley, P. S., tribute to 
Lee by, 385 fn. 



"Yankees," 

of, 345 
York, Sergeant 

111 fn. 



Y 

Southern 



Alvin C, 



BOOKS REFERRED TO IN "THE WOMEN 
OF THE SOUTH IN WAR TIMES" 

P.^GE 

Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson, Vol. I., Gr. F. R. 

Henderson 355 

Confederate Girl's Diary, A, Sarah Fowler Morgan. 345 
Confederate Veteran "(April-May, 1918), "Treat- 
ment of Prisoners in the Confederacy," Hard- 
ships of the Confederate Soldier, etc.'. .64. 400, 404 

Creed of the Old South, Basil L. Gildersleeve 104 

Diary of Gideon Welles 64 

Dixie Book of Days, Matthew Page Andrews 120 

From Bull Run to Appomattox; A Boy's View, 

Luther W. Hopkins 224 fn. 

[465] 



Reference List 

Page 

John Brown, A Critique, H. Peebles Wilson 210 

Journal of Julia LeGrand 390 

Life of General Nathan Bedford Porrest, John A. 

Wyeth 280 

Life of Robert E. Lee, H. A. White 59, 399 

Maryland Historical Magazine (March, 1919), 
"Passage of the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment 

Through Baltimore, April 19, 1861." 58 

Origin of the Late War, George Lunt 8 fn. 

Poems of James Ryder Randall 67 

Reminiscences of tlie Civil War, Gen. John B. Gor- 
don 398 

Sea Power of the North, Charles Francis Adams. . . 77 
Songs of the Civil War (The Century, August, 

1886) 68 

Southern Sidelights, Edward Ingle 93 fn. 

Southern Wealth and Northern Profits, T. P. 

Kettel 8 fn, 93 fn. 

True Story of Andersonville Prison, Lieut. J. M. 

Page 211 

United States, Vol. III., Rhodes 59 

Virginia's Attitude Towards Slavery and Secession, 

B. B. Munford 59 

Webster's Dictionary ( 1864 edition) 14 fn. 

Wreath of Virginia Bay Leaves, Capt. J. Barron 

Hope , 18 



[466] 



"^ 






K^ 



\V .;-. 



.^'^ 



. ^ ' «, • - 




■ ' 






T ,. 






-'fi ^ ^. , 






"!n^^*:. .,,v 










.'^^ 


v-^. ,0^ 


"^x 


^'^" 




.x^^' 


'^y^. 

•j>. 


-• ■ ~- 




C*- " 


-< -'«,>.* .A 




O, '/ 


•<«, a\ 


11 >» 


(, , '/- 






« 1 A " \V 



X,.,# 



0' 



^^"^^ 






.i> % 



^^ v^^ 









.^ 



•5 -v 



.,^- 'c^. 



•^<?^ 



^^ ,K\ 






-<^. ,v^^ 



-^^.. C^^ 



X'f '•>. 



-■^^ 



'^- 






c-\- 



.0^^ 



^^- V^" 












\ 

\ 














"^A 


v^^ 






= 0"* 


^:^ '-' 


x^ 


^^. 






,^-i -. 






" " / 




■<!'- 




.■> 






':^ 


%■ 




'^A v^^ 










"*A V 


.Oc>. 


-"\ 


'^^ 






vOSi 



'> 



-^c^' 






-J .\^ 



■CV' X 



V.' 



'*, .*^ 



.0^ -•'■ ■^^ ^ 



^■% 






-J, 



^9 % 






•,% ' 







-xN 



